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 Costa Rica and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Star Department to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Shadows of Knight. All the underground hits.
All Visage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bizarre Inc. 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 güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erykah Badu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Terry Callier,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Rhythm & Sound,
New York Dolls,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
John Lydon,
Silicon Teens,
EPMD,
Gang Starr,
David Bowie,
Isaac Hayes,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Monochrome Set,
Bill Wells,
One Last Wish,
Sister Nancy,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Fortunes,
The Sound,
Mad Mike,
Kayak,
Severed Heads,
Mars,
The Vogues,
Lou Reed,
Bronski Beat,
Pylon,
Flash Fearless,
Man Eating Sloth,
the Fania All-Stars,
Subhumans,
David McCallum,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Cure,
Janne Schatter,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Television,
Howard Jones,
Groovy Waters,
Jeru the Damaja,
James White and The Blacks,
Rufus Thomas,
Rakim,
The Searchers,
Monks,
China Crisis,
Warsaw,
Iggy Pop,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Drexciya,
The Five Americans,
Kenny Larkin,
The Detroit Cobras,
Gang Gang Dance,
Blake Baxter,
MC5,
Parry Music,
Massinfluence,
Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun, Con Funk Shun.
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.