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 Yemen 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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Bootsy Collins to the rap 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 Barclay James Harvest. All the underground hits.
All Babytalk tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sun City Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
This Heat,
Donald Byrd,
X-101,
John Coltrane,
Guru Guru,
Severed Heads,
Shoche,
Rotary Connection,
Roy Ayers,
Popol Vuh,
Symarip,
Brothers Johnson,
The Cowsills,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Vladislav Delay,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Black Bananas,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Pagans,
Delon & Dalcan,
Sister Nancy,
Schoolly D,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Public Image Ltd.,
Warsaw,
the Swans,
The Velvet Underground,
Piero Umiliani,
The Happenings,
the Fania All-Stars,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Freddie Wadling,
10cc,
Ultra Naté,
Lou Reed,
Leonard Cohen,
Henry Cow,
Curtis Mayfield,
Alphaville,
Swans,
Surgeon,
Echospace,
Kayak,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Pantaleimon,
Bill Wells,
Ronnie Foster,
Prince Buster,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Soul II Soul,
Motorama,
Livin' Joy,
Spoonie Gee,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Liliput,
Tim Buckley,
Sarah Menescal,
K-Klass,
Deadbeat,
The Raincoats,
Subhumans,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.