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 Guatemala and from Johannesburg.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Bologna.
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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the oboe 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 Pole to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Blackbyrds. All the underground hits.
All Rhythm & Sound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David McCallum 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 an oboe and a chamberlin 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 mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radio Birdman,
Sight & Sound,
Cheater Slicks,
Johnny Clarke,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Smoke,
Monks,
Derrick May,
ABC,
Nils Olav,
DJ Sneak,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Raincoats,
Rufus Thomas,
Yazoo,
Scrapy,
Anthony Braxton,
Grandmaster Flash,
David Bowie,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Surgeon,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Schoolly D,
Supertramp,
Junior Murvin,
Cameo,
Carl Craig,
Adolescents,
John Cale,
Severed Heads,
The Offenders,
Public Image Ltd.,
Camouflage,
Alton Ellis,
The Vogues,
Skarface,
Donald Byrd,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Khruangbin,
Aaron Thompson,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Depeche Mode,
Traffic Nightmare,
New York Dolls,
Cal Tjader,
Lindisfarne,
Hasil Adkins,
Amon Düül,
Piero Umiliani,
Todd Terry,
Marcia Griffiths,
Audionom,
Yusef Lateef,
Nirvana,
Ken Boothe,
T. Rex,
Mr. Review,
The Dirtbombs,
Tears for Fears,
Intrusion,
Negative Approach,
Leonard Cohen,
Al Stewart,
Organ,
The Monochrome Set, The Monochrome Set, The Monochrome Set, The Monochrome Set.
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.