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 East Timor and from Salvador.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the 808 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 The Skatalites to the techno 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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Mills tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bluetip record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
Soft Cell,
The Birthday Party,
The Toasters,
The Offenders,
Eric Copeland,
Goldenarms,
Crash Course in Science,
Blossom Toes,
The Happenings,
Index,
Shoche,
Iggy Pop,
Soul II Soul,
Trumans Water,
Sound Behaviour,
The Detroit Cobras,
Zero Boys,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pierre Henry,
Marmalade,
The Evens,
Deepchord,
Gerry Rafferty,
Heaven 17,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Altered Images,
Metal Thangz,
X-102,
Hoover,
Pulsallama,
Max Romeo,
Althea and Donna,
The Doobie Brothers,
Anakelly,
The Standells,
Japan,
Fat Boys,
Vladislav Delay,
Barrington Levy,
The Motions,
D'Angelo,
Motorama,
Carl Craig,
Bill Near,
Quadrant,
The Fuzztones,
Lyres,
Traffic Nightmare,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Visage,
The Moody Blues,
The Blues Magoos,
Arcadia,
Albert Ayler,
Essential Logic,
Graham Central Station,
Avey Tare,
Jacob Miller,
Terrestrial Tones,
Von Mondo,
Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins, Juan Atkins.
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.