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 Malawi and from Manchester.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Joensuu 1685 to the jazz 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 Selector Dub Narcotic. All the underground hits.
All Bootsy's Rubber Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every In Retrospect record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blues Magoos record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
48th St. Collective,
The Doobie Brothers,
Bush Tetras,
Radio Birdman,
Robert Wyatt,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Bob Dylan,
Ituana,
Al Stewart,
Anthony Braxton,
Japan,
Joey Negro,
James White and The Blacks,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Brothers Johnson,
Gang Green,
Andrew Hill,
Matthew Halsall,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Golliwogs,
The American Breed,
Crime,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bobby Womack,
Qualms,
Lyres,
Surgeon,
the Sonics,
Arab on Radar,
The Doors,
Lindisfarne,
Desert Stars,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Television Personalities,
David Axelrod,
Brick,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Organ,
Lee Hazlewood,
Soul II Soul,
Country Teasers,
Eddi Front,
Colin Newman,
Arcadia,
The Happenings,
Boredoms,
Joe Smooth,
Hasil Adkins,
Circle Jerks,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Walker Brothers,
Neil Young,
Flipper,
the Association,
Sister Nancy,
Pantytec,
Pylon,
Blancmange,
Ronan,
Quando Quango,
The Gladiators,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.