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 Kuwait and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the snare 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to the jazz 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 Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch. All the underground hits.
All Camberwell Now tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Alphaville 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Babytalk,
Tropical Tobacco,
Pylon,
The Blackbyrds,
Dual Sessions,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Freddie Wadling,
Magazine,
Parry Music,
The Count Five,
Organ,
James White and The Blacks,
Infiniti,
Yaz,
Arcadia,
Nation of Ulysses,
Con Funk Shun,
David Bowie,
Radiohead,
Brass Construction,
Stetsasonic,
KRS-One,
Cecil Taylor,
Althea and Donna,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Toni Rubio,
Smog,
Simply Red,
Tubeway Army,
Model 500,
David McCallum,
Massinfluence,
Sex Pistols,
The Tremeloes,
T. Rex,
Radio Birdman,
Stockholm Monsters,
Gang Green,
Echospace,
The Monks,
Flamin' Groovies,
Davy DMX,
Rod Modell,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
New Order,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Panda Bear,
The Divine Comedy,
Soulsonic Force,
The Trojans,
Technova,
Aswad,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Pantaleimon,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Velvet Underground,
The Zeros,
Marcia Griffiths,
Wasted Youth,
Lower 48,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pagans,
Jeru the Damaja,
Television,
World's Most, World's Most, World's Most, World's Most.
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.