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 Sudan and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Althea and Donna to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Marine Girls. All the underground hits.
All Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vainqueur,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Heaven 17,
Quantec,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Erykah Badu,
Angry Samoans,
Index,
Archie Shepp,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Bill Wells,
Spoonie Gee,
Circle Jerks,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Jeff Mills,
Malaria!,
Mary Jane Girls,
Moby Grape,
Adolescents,
Neil Young,
Camouflage,
Rekid,
Gregory Isaacs,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Robert Hood,
The Trojans,
Iggy Pop,
Don Cherry,
John Holt,
The Moody Blues,
Visage,
Soul II Soul,
Camberwell Now,
Crime,
Jandek,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Idris Muhammad,
Minny Pops,
The Blues Magoos,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lyres,
Joe Finger,
Infiniti,
Altered Images,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Jawbox,
Deepchord,
Roxette,
Guru Guru,
Scott Walker,
CMW,
Minnie Riperton,
Delon & Dalcan,
Model 500,
The Litter,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Dennis Brown,
The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans, The Five Americans.
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.