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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Spokane.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the marimba 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 Nas to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Delon & Dalcan. All the underground hits.
All Don Cherry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool G Rap & DJ Polo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Dead C,
48th St. Collective,
The Young Rascals,
Sandy B,
Television,
The Associates,
Rites of Spring,
Reagan Youth,
The Saints,
Country Teasers,
U.S. Maple,
The Human League,
Underground Resistance,
Lindisfarne,
Dorothy Ashby,
Throbbing Gristle,
Porter Ricks,
Los Fastidios,
Zero Boys,
L. Decosne,
Arthur Verocai,
Faraquet,
John Cale,
Franke,
John Lydon,
Terry Callier,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Litter,
Main Source,
Idris Muhammad,
Dawn Penn,
Mars,
Pulsallama,
The Busters,
China Crisis,
Stetsasonic,
F. McDonald,
Ituana,
Junior Murvin,
Lou Christie,
Flipper,
Flash Fearless,
Jeru the Damaja,
Patti Smith,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Wasted Youth,
Marshall Jefferson,
Ultravox,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Traffic Nightmare,
Skaos,
Neil Young,
The Kinks,
JFA,
Ornette Coleman,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Ronan, Ronan, Ronan, Ronan.
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.