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 South Sudan and from Bologna.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Oppenheimer Analysis to the punk 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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All The Cosmic Jokers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Walker Brothers 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Shuggie Otis 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?
Grandmaster Flash,
Fugazi,
Pussy Galore,
Qualms,
X-102,
New Age Steppers,
The Moody Blues,
Siglo XX,
New Order,
Kevin Saunderson,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kenny Larkin,
Icehouse,
the Bar-Kays,
Negative Approach,
Oblivians,
Nils Olav,
CMW,
Country Teasers,
The Flesh Eaters,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Alison Limerick,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Invisible,
Pierre Henry,
10cc,
Schoolly D,
Kaleidoscope,
T. Rex,
Crash Course in Science,
Grauzone,
The Grass Roots,
Unrelated Segments,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Bill Near,
Matthew Bourne,
Excepter,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Masters at Work,
Bobby Sherman,
The Doors,
Chris Corsano,
Peter and Kerry,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Cecil Taylor,
PIL,
The Kinks,
Tears for Fears,
Barrington Levy,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Patti Smith,
Spoonie Gee,
Joey Negro,
AZ,
Basic Channel,
Funkadelic,
Roy Ayers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Vogues,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Mandrill,
Aloha Tigers,
Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown, Dennis Brown.
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.