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 Lithuania and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Eric Copeland to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Electric Prunes. All the underground hits.
All The Associates tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Clear Light record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Terry,
Boz Scaggs,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Knickerbockers,
David McCallum,
Soft Cell,
Howard Jones,
Rotary Connection,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Gang Gang Dance,
Colin Newman,
Black Flag,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Jawbox,
Letta Mbulu,
Sound Behaviour,
Lungfish,
Alison Limerick,
the Association,
Soft Machine,
Royal Trux,
Cheater Slicks,
Curtis Mayfield,
John Holt,
Unwound,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Electric Prunes,
Quando Quango,
Eric Copeland,
Lou Reed,
MDC,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Sight & Sound,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Pop Group,
Girls At Our Best!,
Donald Byrd,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bootsy Collins,
Matthew Bourne,
Television,
Andrew Hill,
Surgeon,
Soulsonic Force,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ossler,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Banda Bassotti,
Barbara Tucker,
Slick Rick,
Johnny Osbourne,
Swell Maps,
Bobby Byrd,
Jandek,
The Beau Brummels,
Parry Music,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lyres,
Hot Snakes,
Dorothy Ashby,
CMW,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.