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 East Timor and from Sao Paulo.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Moebius to the rock 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 Porter Ricks. All the underground hits.
All Lindisfarne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Flash Fearless record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun Ra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Vogues,
Idris Muhammad,
The Trojans,
Clear Light,
Groovy Waters,
Roger Hodgson,
Chris Corsano,
The Index,
The Smoke,
David Axelrod,
The Mummies,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
X-101,
Second Layer,
Smog,
Tommy Roe,
Q and Not U,
Fatback Band,
Jeru the Damaja,
DJ Style,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Television,
Mantronix,
the Germs,
John Holt,
Inner City,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Technova,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Boz Scaggs,
Parry Music,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Crispian St. Peters,
Organ,
Ultravox,
Alton Ellis,
Guru Guru,
Thompson Twins,
The Durutti Column,
Excepter,
Au Pairs,
Spandau Ballet,
Supertramp,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Slits,
Sight & Sound,
John Coltrane,
Chris & Cosey,
Scratch Acid,
Theoretical Girls,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lightning Bolt,
Fugazi,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Pop Group,
Jeff Lynne,
These Immortal Souls,
Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics.
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.