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 Portugal and from Toronto.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Ronnie Foster to the funk 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 The Residents. All the underground hits.
All Judy Mowatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Pus 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flamin' Groovies record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
The United States of America,
The Smiths,
Yaz,
Pharoah Sanders,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Lou Christie,
Adolescents,
Eden Ahbez,
David Bowie,
Radio Birdman,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Vainqueur,
Lebanon Hanover,
Bush Tetras,
Leonard Cohen,
Idris Muhammad,
Gerry Rafferty,
Q and Not U,
Tommy Roe,
Colin Newman,
The Fire Engines,
Matthew Bourne,
Charles Mingus,
Second Layer,
Freddie Wadling,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Skarface,
The Residents,
Boredoms,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Blackbyrds,
Y Pants,
The Knickerbockers,
Alton Ellis,
The Star Department,
Faraquet,
Rhythm & Sound,
Pylon,
Wally Richardson,
D'Angelo,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Ralphi Rosario,
Bobbi Humphrey,
a-ha,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Neil Young,
X-101,
This Heat,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tres Demented,
Brand Nubian,
Rapeman,
The Stooges,
Half Japanese,
Nico,
Fela Kuti,
The Offenders,
Fugazi,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Bobby Sherman,
Visage, Visage, Visage, Visage.
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.