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 Malawi 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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Robert Palmer 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 K-Klass to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Deakin. All the underground hits.
All Whodini tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barry Ungar 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rakim record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Los Fastidios,
Scrapy,
Bronski Beat,
the Germs,
Dual Sessions,
Jimmy McGriff,
Matthew Halsall,
Kurtis Blow,
Dawn Penn,
The Star Department,
Lalo Schifrin,
Rufus Thomas,
Isaac Hayes,
Freddie Wadling,
Bill Wells,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Bad Manners,
Negative Approach,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Judy Mowatt,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Remains,
Lungfish,
Massinfluence,
Sarah Menescal,
Gong,
The Invisible,
Joe Finger,
Model 500,
Bootsy Collins,
Eden Ahbez,
Zero Boys,
Max Romeo,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
DJ Sneak,
Ice-T,
ABC,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Intrusion,
Unwound,
The Electric Prunes,
Colin Newman,
Desert Stars,
Henry Cow,
Soft Machine,
The Golliwogs,
X-101,
Hoover,
The Seeds,
Davy DMX,
Youth Brigade,
Technova,
Lucky Dragons,
Hot Snakes,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Minutemen,
The Doobie Brothers,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Move,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Ken Boothe,
Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson, Reuben Wilson.
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.