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 Samoa and from Woodstock.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the guitar 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 Peter & Gordon to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Neil Young & Crazy Horse. All the underground hits.
All The Tremeloes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hasil Adkins 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
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 Joensuu 1685 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Piero Umiliani,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gastr Del Sol,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bad Manners,
Whodini,
Clear Light,
Joe Smooth,
Rotary Connection,
Terry Callier,
Glenn Branca,
Warsaw,
T. Rex,
Bluetip,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Eric Dolphy,
Magazine,
Young Marble Giants,
Janne Schatter,
Can,
Alphaville,
the Normal,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Soft Cell,
Pylon,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Little Man,
Angry Samoans,
Delta 5,
The Beau Brummels,
The Fugs,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Crooked Eye,
Scion,
Cecil Taylor,
The Searchers,
Swell Maps,
The Seeds,
David Axelrod,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Rapeman,
Drexciya,
Marcia Griffiths,
Kenny Larkin,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Leonard Cohen,
Supertramp,
10cc,
Ornette Coleman,
Symarip,
Guru Guru,
The Cramps,
Dennis Brown,
The Sound,
Josef K,
Harpers Bizarre,
Icehouse,
The Human League,
Letta Mbulu,
Amon Düül II,
Fela Kuti,
Franke,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.