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 Lyon.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Paris.
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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Skatalites to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Danielle Patucci. All the underground hits.
All The Stooges tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Detroit Cobras record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a theremin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Monks,
Audionom,
Steve Hackett,
The Mummies,
Dark Day,
Don Cherry,
Scott Walker,
Brand Nubian,
The Trojans,
The Knickerbockers,
Popol Vuh,
Grandmaster Flash,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Neu!,
Fela Kuti,
The Toasters,
Cheater Slicks,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Dead C,
Massinfluence,
Sonic Youth,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Flipper,
Pole,
China Crisis,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Panda Bear,
Deepchord,
Blancmange,
the Sonics,
Alice Coltrane,
Derrick May,
John Holt,
Rites of Spring,
Patti Smith,
Josef K,
LL Cool J,
Archie Shepp,
Graham Central Station,
T. Rex,
Average White Band,
Nirvana,
One Last Wish,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Flesh Eaters,
Arcadia,
Inner City,
Ronan,
Moss Icon,
The Slackers,
The Smiths,
A Certain Ratio,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.