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 Kazakhstan and from Bremen.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Joensuu 1685 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 Ponytail. All the underground hits.
All Loose Ends tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rapeman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Five Americans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Porter Ricks,
Dead Boys,
Electric Prunes,
Gang Green,
Y Pants,
New Order,
UT,
Ohio Players,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Maleditus Sound,
Sun Ra,
Whodini,
the Swans,
Lindisfarne,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
T.S.O.L.,
Pulsallama,
Mission of Burma,
Skarface,
Tubeway Army,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Selecter,
Warren Ellis,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Man Parrish,
Colin Newman,
Scan 7,
Soul Sonic Force,
Minny Pops,
The Gladiators,
Donny Hathaway,
Nas,
Barry Ungar,
Royal Trux,
Mantronix,
The Buckinghams,
Ituana,
EPMD,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Surgeon,
Echospace,
The American Breed,
A Certain Ratio,
Avey Tare,
Marvin Gaye,
H. Thieme,
Fatback Band,
Joyce Sims,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Names,
a-ha,
Oneida,
Khruangbin,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Eden Ahbez,
Lalann,
Alison Limerick,
Inner City,
Qualms,
Tom Boy,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Excepter, Excepter, Excepter, Excepter.
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.