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 Cameroon and from Shanghai.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the theremin 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 Lebanon Hanover to the funk 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 Selecter. All the underground hits.
All Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-101 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Josef K record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Swans,
Junior Murvin,
Alison Limerick,
Television,
Mo-Dettes,
Aswad,
Bob Dylan,
Johnny Clarke,
Thompson Twins,
Mary Jane Girls,
Mark Hollis,
Popol Vuh,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Camberwell Now,
Man Parrish,
Black Moon,
Cecil Taylor,
ABC,
Motorama,
Sällskapet,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Niagra,
Stetsasonic,
Warsaw,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Hoover,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Yazoo,
Sex Pistols,
Neu!,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Index,
Gil Scott Heron,
Letta Mbulu,
Fluxion,
Bluetip,
FM Einheit,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Residents,
Chrome,
Kas Product,
Magazine,
Jeff Lynne,
Minnie Riperton,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Morten Harket,
The Sound,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Jimmy McGriff,
Pet Shop Boys,
Aural Exciters,
The Victims,
Donny Hathaway,
Scion,
Urselle,
The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics, The Sonics.
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.