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 Bolivia and from Tokyo.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Rod Modell to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 David McCallum. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Slick Rick record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Don Cherry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Erasure,
Idris Muhammad,
The Evens,
Lyres,
Carl Craig,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Reuben Wilson,
MDC,
Yusef Lateef,
Guru Guru,
the Germs,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Red Krayola,
Arthur Verocai,
Joe Smooth,
Man Parrish,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Barry Ungar,
the Human League,
Angry Samoans,
Grauzone,
Groovy Waters,
Derrick May,
Anthony Braxton,
Bill Near,
John Cale,
Thee Headcoats,
Josef K,
Quadrant,
Grandmaster Flash,
DNA,
Maurizio,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ponytail,
Delon & Dalcan,
Flipper,
Minny Pops,
Lee Hazlewood,
Public Enemy,
Black Flag,
Subhumans,
Q65,
Scion,
The Five Americans,
E-Dancer,
Country Teasers,
X-Ray Spex,
The Happenings,
Marvin Gaye,
Reagan Youth,
the Bar-Kays,
Suicide,
Cecil Taylor,
Erykah Badu,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Camberwell Now,
Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz.
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.