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 Hungary and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 güiro 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 Iggy Pop to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dual Sessions. All the underground hits.
All Babytalk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every K-Klass record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Minor Threat,
Nico,
Faraquet,
Alice Coltrane,
Can,
Ossler,
Young Marble Giants,
Godley & Creme,
Amazonics,
Brass Construction,
Bronski Beat,
June Days,
Jimmy McGriff,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Big Daddy Kane,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
48th St. Collective,
Crispy Ambulance,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Cramps,
Quadrant,
Reuben Wilson,
The Gun Club,
the Human League,
The Fire Engines,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gang of Four,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Supertramp,
Parry Music,
World's Most,
The Monochrome Set,
Funky Four + One,
Aaron Thompson,
Pantytec,
Marc Almond,
The Slackers,
the Sonics,
The American Breed,
Animal Collective,
Juan Atkins,
Leonard Cohen,
Camouflage,
DNA,
Wolf Eyes,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
KRS-One,
Y Pants,
Chrome,
Sonny Sharrock,
Josef K,
Isaac Hayes,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.