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 Lesotho and from Tokyo.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 mellotron 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 Ituana to the crunk 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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heavy D & The Boyz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Clarke,
The Martian,
Rufus Thomas,
Mo-Dettes,
Dual Sessions,
48th St. Collective,
Loose Ends,
Danielle Patucci,
Soft Cell,
Sex Pistols,
Drive Like Jehu,
Warsaw,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Interpol,
June Days,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Black Dice,
Lakeside,
Pantytec,
Funky Four + One,
Alice Coltrane,
Boz Scaggs,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Graham Central Station,
John Cale,
Arab on Radar,
Yusef Lateef,
Dark Day,
Crooked Eye,
Joy Division,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Clear Light,
The Stooges,
The Dave Clark Five,
Connie Case,
The Motions,
Country Teasers,
Panda Bear,
Dave Gahan,
Public Enemy,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Arcadia,
Barclay James Harvest,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Spoonie Gee,
Archie Shepp,
Traffic Nightmare,
Reuben Wilson,
Bill Near,
Pylon,
Mad Mike,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Fatback Band,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Absolute Body Control,
The Associates,
Audionom,
Guru Guru,
Young Marble Giants,
PIL,
Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier, Terry Callier.
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.