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 Uzbekistan and from Halifax.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Dual Sessions to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Moleskins. All the underground hits.
All The Moleskins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crooked Eye 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blake Baxter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Leaves,
The Tremeloes,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Toni Rubio,
Hardrive,
Soul II Soul,
Drexciya,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Fela Kuti,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Technova,
the Slits,
Gichy Dan,
Pantytec,
The Gories,
AZ,
Banda Bassotti,
The Smoke,
Bob Dylan,
Judy Mowatt,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Nils Olav,
In Retrospect,
Lower 48,
Colin Newman,
the Fania All-Stars,
Girls At Our Best!,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Fugs,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Pretty Things,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Goldenarms,
One Last Wish,
OOIOO,
The Grass Roots,
Bluetip,
Sparks,
Idris Muhammad,
Marshall Jefferson,
Piero Umiliani,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
CMW,
New York Dolls,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Quadrant,
Severed Heads,
Tim Buckley,
Jacob Miller,
Faust,
Jawbox,
F. McDonald,
Sällskapet,
Scott Walker,
Roxy Music,
Rufus Thomas,
Hoover,
The Searchers,
Lungfish,
Janne Schatter,
Simply Red,
Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza.
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.