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 Burundi and from Spokane.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Second Layer 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 Whodini. All the underground hits.
All Kerrie Biddell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boz Scaggs 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 a chamberlin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Prince Buster,
The Doobie Brothers,
Andrew Hill,
Dave Gahan,
The Tremeloes,
Angry Samoans,
The Fugs,
Swans,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Dave Clark Five,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Eurythmics,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Darondo,
Con Funk Shun,
Josef K,
Stetsasonic,
The Shadows of Knight,
The New Christs,
OOIOO,
Malaria!,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Robert Wyatt,
Camberwell Now,
Johnny Osbourne,
Scratch Acid,
Interpol,
Minor Threat,
Sonny Sharrock,
Dead Boys,
The Dirtbombs,
Harry Pussy,
Brothers Johnson,
Traffic Nightmare,
Lungfish,
Marine Girls,
Fear,
Colin Newman,
Moss Icon,
Alton Ellis,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Roger Hodgson,
Shoche,
Davy DMX,
China Crisis,
Rotary Connection,
Barry Ungar,
The Knickerbockers,
Oneida,
The Last Poets,
Sparks,
Cheater Slicks,
The Mojo Men,
Donald Byrd,
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.