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 Syria and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 MDC to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Visage. All the underground hits.
All Alice Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wings 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 '80s.
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 Reagan Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soft Machine,
Glenn Branca,
Don Cherry,
Drexciya,
The Associates,
Black Pus,
Outsiders,
Black Flag,
Little Man,
Jimmy McGriff,
Moby Grape,
The Cramps,
Todd Rundgren,
The Standells,
Yusef Lateef,
Alison Limerick,
Mo-Dettes,
Icehouse,
Tears for Fears,
The Fire Engines,
Dave Gahan,
Robert Wyatt,
The Techniques,
Zapp,
Ultimate Spinach,
Aaron Thompson,
Bang On A Can,
Jerry's Kids,
The Monochrome Set,
Darondo,
the Sonics,
Charles Mingus,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Sandy B,
Sällskapet,
Warsaw,
Sugar Minott,
JFA,
Bronski Beat,
Nico,
Sixth Finger,
Rakim,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ken Boothe,
Judy Mowatt,
Reuben Wilson,
Mandrill,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gong,
Rapeman,
Babytalk,
Cheater Slicks,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Juan Atkins,
Brass Construction,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
David McCallum,
Qualms,
The Happenings,
Suicide,
Brand Nubian,
Wally Richardson,
Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp, Archie Shepp.
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.