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 Iceland and from London.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 guitar 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 Patti Smith to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All Ultramagnetic MC's tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a güiro and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Babytalk,
The Buckinghams,
Whodini,
Morten Harket,
Qualms,
Negative Approach,
The Slits,
Banda Bassotti,
Traffic Nightmare,
Mandrill,
Boredoms,
Sexual Harrassment,
ABBA,
China Crisis,
Bizarre Inc.,
Spandau Ballet,
Y Pants,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
the Association,
The Young Rascals,
L. Decosne,
Organ,
Siglo XX,
Fatback Band,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Johnny Clarke,
Fear,
DJ Sneak,
Ralphi Rosario,
Kevin Saunderson,
Jimmy McGriff,
Connie Case,
T.S.O.L.,
Au Pairs,
Jeff Mills,
Mo-Dettes,
The Fall,
DNA,
Surgeon,
Albert Ayler,
Masters at Work,
Country Teasers,
The Pop Group,
Quando Quango,
Alice Coltrane,
Pharoah Sanders,
Godley & Creme,
Kerri Chandler,
The Blackbyrds,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Cowsills,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Golliwogs,
Prince Buster,
Drive Like Jehu,
AZ,
The Litter,
The Stooges,
Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn, Dawn Penn.
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.