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 Hungary and from Accra.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the organ 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 the Fania All-Stars to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Soft Cell. All the underground hits.
All Gang Starr tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Isaac Hayes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lightning Bolt,
Jimmy McGriff,
Little Man,
The Modern Lovers,
Rapeman,
Jandek,
48th St. Collective,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Alton Ellis,
Porter Ricks,
Gichy Dan,
Arab on Radar,
Average White Band,
Deepchord,
Charles Mingus,
Robert Wyatt,
Rhythm & Sound,
Stiv Bators,
Rakim,
The Fortunes,
Fela Kuti,
Soul Sonic Force,
Wolf Eyes,
David Bowie,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Gun Club,
Monolake,
The Residents,
Inner City,
Sister Nancy,
Idris Muhammad,
Infiniti,
Lakeside,
Depeche Mode,
the Bar-Kays,
Agent Orange,
Unrelated Segments,
La Düsseldorf,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Hot Snakes,
Nas,
Fatback Band,
Harmonia,
Pierre Henry,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Ossler,
The Tremeloes,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Last Poets,
Roy Ayers,
X-Ray Spex,
Radiohead,
The Fuzztones,
Sparks,
Neu!,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Pantaleimon,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Tom Boy,
Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones.
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.