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 Singapore and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Essential Logic to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Brand Nubian. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pole 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 In Retrospect record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ash Ra Tempel,
Rod Modell,
Pagans,
Mark Hollis,
The Standells,
Eve St. Jones,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Misunderstood,
Funkadelic,
Sam Rivers,
Terry Callier,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Gang Starr,
London Community Gospel Choir,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Dead C,
Cheater Slicks,
Public Image Ltd.,
Jacques Brel,
Bush Tetras,
Reuben Wilson,
Loose Ends,
Gang Green,
Josef K,
Hot Snakes,
Marc Almond,
Cymande,
Parry Music,
Agent Orange,
Black Pus,
Echospace,
Negative Approach,
The Cramps,
New Order,
The Real Kids,
Basic Channel,
Von Mondo,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Jesper Dahlback,
Radiopuhelimet,
Warsaw,
Wings,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Cure,
Electric Prunes,
The Motions,
Pulsallama,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Country Joe & The Fish,
the Sonics,
Janne Schatter,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ohio Players,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Dual Sessions,
Mandrill,
Minny Pops,
Icehouse,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
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.