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 Malaysia and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 clarinet 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 Barbara Tucker to the rock kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 10cc record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Fugazi,
Ossler,
John Coltrane,
Soft Cell,
Matthew Bourne,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Sound Behaviour,
Interpol,
Throbbing Gristle,
Dorothy Ashby,
Black Moon,
Yaz,
Charles Mingus,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
the Sonics,
Basic Channel,
Funkadelic,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Arab on Radar,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Marshall Jefferson,
Sun City Girls,
Supertramp,
The American Breed,
Blake Baxter,
Maurizio,
Cheater Slicks,
EPMD,
Jacob Miller,
Anthony Braxton,
Oblivians,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Marc Almond,
Thompson Twins,
Brand Nubian,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Stiv Bators,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Evens,
Aaron Thompson,
Donald Byrd,
Radio Birdman,
The Black Dice,
Darondo,
DJ Sneak,
Frankie Knuckles,
Todd Rundgren,
Prince Buster,
The Move,
James White and The Blacks,
Steve Hackett,
Subhumans,
Jeru the Damaja,
Kool Moe Dee,
Pagans,
Gang Gang Dance,
Terry Callier,
Gastr Del Sol,
Peter & Gordon,
Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson.
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.