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 Venezuela and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Simply Red to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Nas. All the underground hits.
All Anthony Braxton tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brothers Johnson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Simply Red record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash,
Al Stewart,
Rotary Connection,
The Count Five,
Khruangbin,
The Neon Judgement,
Whodini,
Idris Muhammad,
Thompson Twins,
Pulsallama,
Dawn Penn,
The Alarm Clocks,
Albert Ayler,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Erykah Badu,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Happenings,
Kerri Chandler,
a-ha,
Infiniti,
Josef K,
The Fugs,
Scratch Acid,
Shuggie Otis,
The Dead C,
Funky Four + One,
Half Japanese,
Rosa Yemen,
Easy Going,
Basic Channel,
John Holt,
David Bowie,
Bill Wells,
John Lydon,
Soulsonic Force,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Arcadia,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Liliput,
Drive Like Jehu,
Cheater Slicks,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Raincoats,
Sugar Minott,
Qualms,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Judy Mowatt,
The Doobie Brothers,
Susan Cadogan,
Robert Wyatt,
Tom Boy,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Eve St. Jones,
OOIOO,
Negative Approach,
Darondo,
Youth Brigade,
Jeru the Damaja,
EPMD,
The Gun Club,
The Durutti Column,
Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio, Toni Rubio.
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.