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 Austria and from Tehran.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Angels of Light & Akron/Family to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Khruangbin. All the underground hits.
All Inner City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fear record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed & Metallica record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
Procol Harum,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
David Bowie,
the Normal,
The Dead C,
John Foxx,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Letta Mbulu,
The Moody Blues,
In Retrospect,
Rapeman,
Cal Tjader,
Echospace,
The Offenders,
Leonard Cohen,
Frankie Knuckles,
Matthew Halsall,
The Residents,
Man Parrish,
the Slits,
New York Dolls,
Lalo Schifrin,
Wasted Youth,
New Age Steppers,
MC5,
Bill Wells,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Throbbing Gristle,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Divine Comedy,
The Walker Brothers,
Susan Cadogan,
Black Moon,
DJ Sneak,
Neil Young,
Gregory Isaacs,
Al Stewart,
The Tremeloes,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Eve St. Jones,
Masters at Work,
Grandmaster Flash,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Bizarre Inc.,
Hoover,
Pulsallama,
The American Breed,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Fad Gadget,
Ponytail,
The Slits,
Duran Duran,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Public Enemy,
Prince Buster,
Marcia Griffiths,
Whodini,
Liliput,
KRS-One,
ABBA,
The Misunderstood,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Wings, Wings, Wings, Wings.
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.