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 South Sudan and from London.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Soft Cell to the disco 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo. All the underground hits.
All Sexual Harrassment tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Qualms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Human League,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Can,
Joensuu 1685,
Hasil Adkins,
The Young Rascals,
Lyres,
Vainqueur,
Sun Ra,
The Sonics,
Chrome,
Minutemen,
Nas,
Josef K,
Goldenarms,
Agitation Free,
CMW,
Ossler,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Doobie Brothers,
the Germs,
Terry Callier,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Davy DMX,
Eurythmics,
The Victims,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Massinfluence,
Glenn Branca,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Reagan Youth,
Skriet,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Oneida,
The Fuzztones,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Seeds,
Ohio Players,
Pharoah Sanders,
Organ,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Funkadelic,
Public Image Ltd.,
Nico,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Accadde A,
Easy Going,
Frankie Knuckles,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Gladiators,
Nation of Ulysses,
Crispy Ambulance,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Music Machine,
Barrington Levy,
Cheater Slicks,
E-Dancer,
Sarah Menescal,
Soulsonic Force,
The Evens,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Zapp, Zapp, Zapp, Zapp.
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.