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 Kazakhstan and from Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 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 The Victims to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Monolake. All the underground hits.
All Lungfish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Divine Comedy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer 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?
The Raincoats,
Arab on Radar,
Faraquet,
Suicide,
Section 25,
Blancmange,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Simply Red,
JFA,
Mad Mike,
E-Dancer,
Panda Bear,
Zapp,
Harpers Bizarre,
Crash Course in Science,
One Last Wish,
Nirvana,
Saccharine Trust,
Terrestrial Tones,
Guru Guru,
Barrington Levy,
Crooked Eye,
Vladislav Delay,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Judy Mowatt,
Bobby Womack,
R.M.O.,
Skaos,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Erykah Badu,
Tom Boy,
Jimmy McGriff,
Absolute Body Control,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Erasure,
Connie Case,
Roger Hodgson,
The United States of America,
Severed Heads,
Duran Duran,
Robert Hood,
a-ha,
Brand Nubian,
Chris & Cosey,
Sex Pistols,
LL Cool J,
Mary Jane Girls,
X-Ray Spex,
Monks,
Hashim,
Rosa Yemen,
Tommy Roe,
Clear Light,
Soft Cell,
The Birthday Party,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Eric Dolphy,
Jeff Lynne,
The Slackers,
PIL,
Tres Demented,
The Doors,
Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron, Gil Scott Heron.
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.