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 Qatar and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 Salvador and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Dorothy Ashby to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 AZ. All the underground hits.
All Livin' Joy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Neon Judgement record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Parrish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Excepter,
Roxy Music,
Scion,
Qualms,
The Gap Band,
This Heat,
Bizarre Inc.,
Tres Demented,
David Bowie,
The Mummies,
Subhumans,
the Association,
Stereo Dub,
PIL,
Yusef Lateef,
Grey Daturas,
Tommy Roe,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Model 500,
Leonard Cohen,
Matthew Bourne,
Unrelated Segments,
Man Parrish,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Blues Magoos,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Blake Baxter,
Sonny Sharrock,
K-Klass,
Saccharine Trust,
Minnie Riperton,
Harmonia,
Sixth Finger,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lakeside,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Graham Central Station,
Agent Orange,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Blossom Toes,
Frankie Knuckles,
Grandmaster Flash,
Aural Exciters,
Brick,
Juan Atkins,
The Pretty Things,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Von Mondo,
The Human League,
The Golliwogs,
Vladislav Delay,
DJ Style,
Kurtis Blow,
Neil Young,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Monolake, Monolake, Monolake, Monolake.
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.