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 Austria and from Woodstock.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Tubeway Army to the funk 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 The Monks. All the underground hits.
All Reuben Wilson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Terry Callier record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Smog,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Quantec,
Judy Mowatt,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Yellowson,
Junior Murvin,
The Monks,
Soul II Soul,
Unrelated Segments,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Curtis Mayfield,
John Cale,
Ultimate Spinach,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Au Pairs,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
X-Ray Spex,
Nick Fraelich,
Bizarre Inc.,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Faraquet,
The Move,
Altered Images,
The Stooges,
The Grass Roots,
Joyce Sims,
Clear Light,
Pantaleimon,
The Busters,
Tomorrow,
Kenny Larkin,
Dennis Brown,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Pop Group,
Harpers Bizarre,
Grandmaster Flash,
Intrusion,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Gastr Del Sol,
Pole,
Camouflage,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Spandau Ballet,
Anthony Braxton,
Slave,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Man Parrish,
Drexciya,
Gabor Szabo,
The Dead C,
Little Man,
Barrington Levy,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Juan Atkins,
Althea and Donna,
Pierre Henry,
Hasil Adkins,
Moebius,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Grauzone,
Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk.
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.