Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Indonesia and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing The Shadows of Knight to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Eric B and Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fall record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Walker Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers,
FM Einheit,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
JFA,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Siglo XX,
Cecil Taylor,
Cheater Slicks,
Terrestrial Tones,
Pierre Henry,
Absolute Body Control,
Popol Vuh,
The Seeds,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bobby Sherman,
The Shadows of Knight,
Derrick May,
The Gladiators,
China Crisis,
Brothers Johnson,
Easy Going,
DNA,
Second Layer,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Max Romeo,
Johnny Osbourne,
Young Marble Giants,
Patti Smith,
Skarface,
Negative Approach,
The Vogues,
Judy Mowatt,
Warsaw,
The Misunderstood,
The Offenders,
Sam Rivers,
Agent Orange,
Bill Wells,
Animal Collective,
The Walker Brothers,
Lyres,
Bad Manners,
Toni Rubio,
Aaron Thompson,
Nirvana,
Neil Young,
Brick,
Ultimate Spinach,
Aloha Tigers,
Bronski Beat,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
MC5,
Crispy Ambulance,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Joyce Sims,
The Durutti Column,
Sun Ra,
Guru Guru,
Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.