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 Beijing.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Grandmaster Flash to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Red Lorry Yellow Lorry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mark Hollis,
Susan Cadogan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
June Days,
The Cowsills,
Goldenarms,
Boogie Down Productions,
Moebius,
Saccharine Trust,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Curtis Mayfield,
A Flock of Seagulls,
DJ Style,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Motions,
Rod Modell,
David Bowie,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Inner City,
Duran Duran,
Kerri Chandler,
John Cale,
the Swans,
X-101,
Faust,
Bobby Byrd,
Soul II Soul,
Pagans,
A Certain Ratio,
The Raincoats,
Tears for Fears,
Yellowson,
Neil Young,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Barbara Tucker,
John Coltrane,
Bronski Beat,
Hasil Adkins,
Mary Jane Girls,
Simply Red,
These Immortal Souls,
ABC,
Sexual Harrassment,
Unrelated Segments,
a-ha,
Severed Heads,
Khruangbin,
Heaven 17,
the Slits,
Gastr Del Sol,
Sam Rivers,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
James White and The Blacks,
Tres Demented,
Depeche Mode,
Joey Negro,
DJ Sneak,
The Gap Band,
Bill Wells,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.