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 Macedonia and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 clarinet 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 Flamin' Groovies to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gang of Four. All the underground hits.
All Model 500 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Basic Channel 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Residents record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stereo Dub,
Godley & Creme,
cv313,
Connie Case,
MC5,
Joy Division,
Nas,
Sarah Menescal,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jandek,
The Barracudas,
The Electric Prunes,
Visage,
The Music Machine,
Talk Talk,
The Busters,
Panda Bear,
Inner City,
Rapeman,
Andrew Hill,
Bobby Womack,
Ituana,
Lalo Schifrin,
Saccharine Trust,
Eric B and Rakim,
Moebius,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Roxette,
X-Ray Spex,
Procol Harum,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ossler,
Stiv Bators,
Chris Corsano,
Scientists,
Livin' Joy,
The Gap Band,
Outsiders,
10cc,
Faraquet,
Camberwell Now,
U.S. Maple,
X-101,
Agitation Free,
Lou Christie,
Deadbeat,
The Angels of Light,
Fat Boys,
Isaac Hayes,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gang Gang Dance,
Minnie Riperton,
The J.B.'s,
June Days,
Eric Copeland,
Sight & Sound,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Morten Harket,
The Litter,
Kevin Saunderson,
Glenn Branca,
Porter Ricks,
The Zeros,
A Certain Ratio,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.