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 Namibia and from Mumbai.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Accra.
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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Kaleidoscope to the grunge 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 Banda Bassotti. All the underground hits.
All MC5 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Infiniti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Be Bop Deluxe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mad Mike,
Gastr Del Sol,
Curtis Mayfield,
Drive Like Jehu,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Moleskins,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Monochrome Set,
Sixth Finger,
In Retrospect,
John Cale,
Godley & Creme,
The Fugs,
Section 25,
Ludus,
Archie Shepp,
Albert Ayler,
The Fire Engines,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Lou Christie,
Junior Murvin,
Johnny Osbourne,
Pantytec,
Glenn Branca,
The Techniques,
Eyeless In Gaza,
B.T. Express,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Black Flag,
Rekid,
Sight & Sound,
Q and Not U,
Circle Jerks,
Lindisfarne,
Con Funk Shun,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Theoretical Girls,
Joensuu 1685,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Wolf Eyes,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
One Last Wish,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Whodini,
Cecil Taylor,
Derrick Morgan,
PIL,
Royal Trux,
KRS-One,
Harry Pussy,
Brand Nubian,
Robert Hood,
FM Einheit,
Make Up,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Silicon Teens,
Iggy Pop,
Pierre Henry,
Radio Birdman,
The Star Department,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.