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 Luxembourg and from Madrid.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Colin Newman to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Con Funk Shun. All the underground hits.
All The Fortunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Drexciya 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Near record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Fatback Band,
the Association,
The Last Poets,
Aural Exciters,
The Gladiators,
Skarface,
Howard Jones,
Johnny Osbourne,
Cybotron,
The Human League,
Vladislav Delay,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Crispian St. Peters,
One Last Wish,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Deakin,
Roxy Music,
The J.B.'s,
Albert Ayler,
Bobby Sherman,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Oblivians,
Nirvana,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Kerri Chandler,
The Doors,
Dennis Brown,
Thee Headcoats,
Ultravox,
Bizarre Inc.,
Godley & Creme,
Crime,
Unrelated Segments,
Wings,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Shuggie Otis,
Slick Rick,
Sonny Sharrock,
Flipper,
June of 44,
Metal Thangz,
Alton Ellis,
Pantytec,
World's Most,
Interpol,
Agent Orange,
Isaac Hayes,
La Düsseldorf,
Suburban Knight,
Main Source,
H. Thieme,
Janne Schatter,
Sexual Harrassment,
Minny Pops,
Japan,
Crooked Eye,
Patti Smith,
The Fortunes,
Joe Smooth,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.