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 Tanzania and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 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 LL Cool J to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Delta 5. All the underground hits.
All Bobbi Humphrey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Schoolly D record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eric B and Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Walker Brothers,
The Blues Magoos,
Boogie Down Productions,
Donald Byrd,
Connie Case,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
James White and The Blacks,
Alphaville,
The Evens,
The Cowsills,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Crash Course in Science,
Sixth Finger,
Glenn Branca,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Modern Lovers,
The Toasters,
Cecil Taylor,
Joey Negro,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Traffic Nightmare,
Monks,
Blancmange,
Soul II Soul,
Tears for Fears,
Section 25,
The Slackers,
Isaac Hayes,
Chris Corsano,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Zapp,
The Human League,
Clear Light,
Howard Jones,
Harpers Bizarre,
Throbbing Gristle,
Second Layer,
Sexual Harrassment,
Theoretical Girls,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Skatalites,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Dennis Brown,
Banda Bassotti,
Inner City,
The Seeds,
Jacques Brel,
The Gladiators,
Kayak,
Barbara Tucker,
The Smoke,
Scientists,
Audionom,
The Monks,
The Five Americans,
Sun Ra,
the Fania All-Stars,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Star Department,
Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare, Avey Tare.
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.