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 Armenia and from Hong Kong.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Milan.
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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gregory Isaacs to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Fat Boys. All the underground hits.
All Liliput tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siouxsie and the Banshees record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a marimba and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Desert Stars,
Technova,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Offenders,
Schoolly D,
The Count Five,
Basic Channel,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Knickerbockers,
Nico,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Goldenarms,
Ronan,
Guru Guru,
Al Stewart,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Doors,
Silicon Teens,
Outsiders,
In Retrospect,
The Index,
Flash Fearless,
Johnny Clarke,
Nik Kershaw,
the Swans,
The Alarm Clocks,
Procol Harum,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Half Japanese,
Eurythmics,
Quando Quango,
Wire,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
June of 44,
Gong,
Archie Shepp,
Dorothy Ashby,
Barbara Tucker,
Black Moon,
The Blackbyrds,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Tommy Roe,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Flipper,
The Gories,
Lightning Bolt,
the Association,
Infiniti,
The Happenings,
James White and The Blacks,
Black Bananas,
Ten City,
Soulsonic Force,
Faust,
Avey Tare,
Groovy Waters,
Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat.
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.