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 Zimbabwe and from Cairo.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Sound to the funk 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 Fluxion. All the underground hits.
All MDC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Peter & Gordon 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swell Maps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Graham Central Station,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Porter Ricks,
Trumans Water,
Anthony Braxton,
Don Cherry,
Amazonics,
The Residents,
H. Thieme,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
D'Angelo,
Quadrant,
The Pop Group,
Vladislav Delay,
Idris Muhammad,
Suburban Knight,
Freddie Wadling,
Leonard Cohen,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
10cc,
Monolake,
Sex Pistols,
Cluster,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Ken Boothe,
Urselle,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Althea and Donna,
The Kinks,
The Fire Engines,
Black Sheep,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
New Order,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Fad Gadget,
Unwound,
a-ha,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
X-102,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Divine Comedy,
The Durutti Column,
Piero Umiliani,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sun Ra,
John Cale,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Derrick Morgan,
Josef K,
Dead Boys,
CMW,
Sight & Sound,
The Fuzztones,
E-Dancer,
Judy Mowatt,
Interpol,
Chrome, Chrome, Chrome, Chrome.
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.