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 Brazil and from Glasgow.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Buzzcocks to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Funky Four + One. All the underground hits.
All Hoover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wolf Eyes 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lizzy Mercier Descloux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The J.B.'s,
Eric Dolphy,
Thompson Twins,
Gang Gang Dance,
Absolute Body Control,
D'Angelo,
Pierre Henry,
Mantronix,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
the Soft Cell,
The Index,
Soul Sonic Force,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Faraquet,
Cal Tjader,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Chris & Cosey,
Livin' Joy,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Monks,
Amon Düül,
Black Bananas,
The Slackers,
Reuben Wilson,
Lee Hazlewood,
Japan,
KRS-One,
The Doors,
The Buckinghams,
Leonard Cohen,
Saccharine Trust,
Camberwell Now,
Judy Mowatt,
The Dead C,
Lou Reed,
Adolescents,
Country Teasers,
Yellowson,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Tim Buckley,
Agent Orange,
Marmalade,
Gastr Del Sol,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ronnie Foster,
Michelle Simonal,
Con Funk Shun,
The Golliwogs,
Public Enemy,
The Kinks,
Janne Schatter,
Brothers Johnson,
Ossler,
Gabor Szabo,
Piero Umiliani,
Massinfluence,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Five Americans,
E-Dancer,
Bizarre Inc.,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
EPMD, EPMD, EPMD, EPMD.
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.