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 Guinea-Bissau and from Seoul.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Kerrie Biddell to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Guru Guru. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ultra Naté,
H. Thieme,
Motorama,
The Last Poets,
Big Daddy Kane,
Bobby Womack,
New Order,
Davy DMX,
The Gladiators,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Modern Lovers,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Black Flag,
Accadde A,
Banda Bassotti,
Eric Dolphy,
David Axelrod,
Jimmy McGriff,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The United States of America,
Electric Prunes,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Walker Brothers,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kenny Larkin,
Barrington Levy,
Stetsasonic,
The Victims,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Slick Rick,
Sister Nancy,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Aswad,
The Young Rascals,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Mandrill,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Eric B and Rakim,
Amon Düül II,
The Shadows of Knight,
Robert Wyatt,
Technova,
Gong,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Derrick Morgan,
Girls At Our Best!,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Grauzone,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
U.S. Maple,
Eden Ahbez,
Soft Machine,
Ronan,
Flash Fearless,
Max Romeo,
The Slits,
Erykah Badu,
Scott Walker,
Ice-T,
Newcleus,
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.