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 Mauritania and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Interpol to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 B.T. Express. All the underground hits.
All David Axelrod tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kaleidoscope record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Negative Approach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
DJ Sneak,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
ABBA,
Funky Four + One,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Pole,
Ralphi Rosario,
Funkadelic,
Eric B and Rakim,
Altered Images,
Nas,
Susan Cadogan,
Moebius,
Fela Kuti,
kango's stein massive,
The Mummies,
Siglo XX,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Model 500,
The Saints,
the Human League,
Pet Shop Boys,
Jacques Brel,
Rekid,
Glambeats Corp.,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Nik Kershaw,
Lebanon Hanover,
Idris Muhammad,
La Düsseldorf,
The Moleskins,
Patti Smith,
The Pop Group,
Gang of Four,
T.S.O.L.,
Wire,
Crooked Eye,
The Remains,
Circle Jerks,
Lucky Dragons,
Brand Nubian,
Donny Hathaway,
The Victims,
Eric Dolphy,
The Motions,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Birthday Party,
The Fugs,
Section 25,
Suburban Knight,
Kas Product,
Symarip,
Scott Walker,
Kenny Larkin,
Soulsonic Force,
The Barracudas,
Matthew Halsall,
Country Teasers,
The Residents,
Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope.
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.