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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Gap Band to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Thompson Twins. All the underground hits.
All The Trojans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a kango's stein massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warren Ellis,
Public Enemy,
Aswad,
Blossom Toes,
Groovy Waters,
DNA,
Scientists,
Boz Scaggs,
Talk Talk,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Spoonie Gee,
Fluxion,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Tubeway Army,
the Swans,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Rapeman,
New Age Steppers,
Arthur Verocai,
Rod Modell,
Stetsasonic,
Outsiders,
Nik Kershaw,
Mandrill,
The Alarm Clocks,
John Lydon,
cv313,
Gregory Isaacs,
Das Ding,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Monolake,
Connie Case,
Crime,
Shuggie Otis,
Swans,
U.S. Maple,
Dorothy Ashby,
Tom Boy,
Jerry's Kids,
Harpers Bizarre,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Delta 5,
Archie Shepp,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Cecil Taylor,
Clear Light,
The Pretty Things,
the Human League,
Los Fastidios,
The Monks,
Matthew Halsall,
La Düsseldorf,
The Shadows of Knight,
Organ,
Susan Cadogan,
The Durutti Column,
Sam Rivers,
Cluster,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Crash Course in Science,
Sonny Sharrock,
Skarface,
Tim Buckley, Tim Buckley, Tim Buckley, Tim Buckley.
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.