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 Cape Verde and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 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 Letta Mbulu to the rap 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 JFA. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mandrill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bronski Beat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Livin' Joy,
Robert Wyatt,
Easy Going,
Harpers Bizarre,
Aural Exciters,
Essential Logic,
Boogie Down Productions,
Boz Scaggs,
Traffic Nightmare,
Tom Boy,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Donny Hathaway,
Gil Scott Heron,
Johnny Osbourne,
Eurythmics,
Alison Limerick,
The Cure,
Amon Düül II,
Amon Düül,
Girls At Our Best!,
Sällskapet,
Ralphi Rosario,
L. Decosne,
Juan Atkins,
a-ha,
Cheater Slicks,
Carl Craig,
Johnny Clarke,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Absolute Body Control,
Stereo Dub,
Fela Kuti,
Leonard Cohen,
Second Layer,
John Cale,
Cluster,
Frankie Knuckles,
Angry Samoans,
Groovy Waters,
Yusef Lateef,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
the Normal,
The Index,
Black Sheep,
Sexual Harrassment,
Black Bananas,
Intrusion,
Hashim,
Whodini,
the Germs,
Joyce Sims,
Circle Jerks,
Moby Grape,
Dead Boys,
The Litter,
Rapeman,
The Misunderstood,
Delta 5,
David McCallum,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
D'Angelo,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Ossler,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.