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 Colombia and from Columbus.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 The Birthday Party 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 Bootsy's Rubber Band. All the underground hits.
All Gregory Isaacs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kevin Saunderson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Cymande,
Isaac Hayes,
The Saints,
Suburban Knight,
Young Marble Giants,
Brand Nubian,
Harmonia,
Fluxion,
Organ,
Marcia Griffiths,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Underground Resistance,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Stetsasonic,
DJ Style,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
New Age Steppers,
LL Cool J,
The Grass Roots,
Marc Almond,
Ken Boothe,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Warren Ellis,
The Real Kids,
Colin Newman,
The Kinks,
Big Daddy Kane,
Eddi Front,
Charles Mingus,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Public Image Ltd.,
In Retrospect,
The Walker Brothers,
Arab on Radar,
T. Rex,
Bob Dylan,
Kayak,
Steve Hackett,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Barrington Levy,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Invisible,
The Red Krayola,
Animal Collective,
The Five Americans,
Sarah Menescal,
Basic Channel,
Fat Boys,
The Evens,
Arcadia,
The Remains,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sight & Sound,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Cowsills,
Bang On A Can,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sun Ra,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario, Ralphi Rosario.
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.