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 Yemen 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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Lou Reed to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks. All the underground hits.
All Schoolly D tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sällskapet 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Section 25 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arab on Radar,
The Motions,
Charles Mingus,
The Skatalites,
Swell Maps,
the Germs,
Gang Starr,
Buzzcocks,
Lightning Bolt,
Audionom,
Aloha Tigers,
Massinfluence,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Neu!,
Byron Stingily,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cameo,
The Real Kids,
Ornette Coleman,
Harpers Bizarre,
Sandy B,
Eric Dolphy,
The Fortunes,
World's Most,
Hoover,
Harry Pussy,
Smog,
Traffic Nightmare,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Ludus,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Donald Byrd,
Reagan Youth,
Letta Mbulu,
Japan,
The Golliwogs,
Alice Coltrane,
Terrestrial Tones,
Black Sheep,
Subhumans,
Kayak,
Roxy Music,
Animal Collective,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Cowsills,
Eurythmics,
These Immortal Souls,
Hasil Adkins,
Technova,
Ice-T,
Mad Mike,
The Standells,
Jerry's Kids,
the Sonics,
The Alarm Clocks,
Cybotron,
Groovy Waters,
The Remains,
Bizarre Inc.,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Smiths,
Fat Boys,
Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras.
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.