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 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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Heaven 17 to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All Eve St. Jones tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dennis Brown record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yellowson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Five Americans,
The Toasters,
Howard Jones,
Grandmaster Flash,
Boredoms,
Subhumans,
Aural Exciters,
Cluster,
Technova,
Althea and Donna,
E-Dancer,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Tears for Fears,
Au Pairs,
The Tremeloes,
Slick Rick,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Rapeman,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Robert Hood,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Guru Guru,
Pulsallama,
Albert Ayler,
Camouflage,
Section 25,
Audionom,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Man Parrish,
Chrome,
Sly & The Family Stone,
John Cale,
Drexciya,
The Birthday Party,
David McCallum,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Todd Terry,
Goldenarms,
Kayak,
Nas,
The Blackbyrds,
The Music Machine,
Barry Ungar,
Fluxion,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Tom Boy,
K-Klass,
Grauzone,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Gories,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Fire Engines,
Juan Atkins,
Sandy B,
Freddie Wadling,
Brass Construction,
Newcleus,
Byron Stingily,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Misunderstood,
Warsaw,
Roger Hodgson,
Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane.
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.