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 Liberia and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 808 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 Camberwell Now to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Slave. All the underground hits.
All Mantronix tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fela Kuti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joey Negro record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Whodini,
Boogie Down Productions,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
cv313,
Lebanon Hanover,
Tres Demented,
The Five Americans,
Barry Ungar,
Juan Atkins,
Eli Mardock,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Human League,
Urselle,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Intrusion,
Mars,
Siglo XX,
Sonny Sharrock,
Bluetip,
Barclay James Harvest,
Piero Umiliani,
Dorothy Ashby,
Niagra,
Jeff Lynne,
Max Romeo,
Howard Jones,
Icehouse,
Drexciya,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Y Pants,
Unrelated Segments,
Cal Tjader,
Das Ding,
Dave Gahan,
Television,
Eve St. Jones,
Dead Boys,
Arcadia,
Gastr Del Sol,
Sun City Girls,
Jimmy McGriff,
Average White Band,
Marmalade,
Rapeman,
X-Ray Spex,
The Knickerbockers,
Soft Machine,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Minor Threat,
The Moleskins,
Lucky Dragons,
The Misunderstood,
Symarip,
Alton Ellis,
Graham Central Station,
Michelle Simonal,
Radiopuhelimet,
Susan Cadogan,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt, Judy Mowatt.
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.