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 Mauritius and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 chamberlin 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 Tropical Tobacco to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dark Day. All the underground hits.
All Lindisfarne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & Metallica 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Music Machine,
Aaron Thompson,
The Happenings,
Crooked Eye,
Cabaret Voltaire,
F. McDonald,
Soft Cell,
Grey Daturas,
Deepchord,
Spoonie Gee,
Moss Icon,
FM Einheit,
Freddie Wadling,
Infiniti,
Dennis Brown,
Barrington Levy,
Clear Light,
Quando Quango,
Dorothy Ashby,
Brothers Johnson,
David Axelrod,
Skaos,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
EPMD,
It's A Beautiful Day,
CMW,
Ken Boothe,
The Motions,
Suburban Knight,
Stiv Bators,
The Mojo Men,
Can,
cv313,
Ponytail,
Magma,
Jawbox,
Arthur Verocai,
The Toasters,
Lower 48,
The Black Dice,
the Association,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Jerry's Kids,
Nik Kershaw,
Blake Baxter,
The Kinks,
The United States of America,
Robert Görl,
Reagan Youth,
Alison Limerick,
Desert Stars,
Fatback Band,
Buzzcocks,
Rites of Spring,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lyres,
Von Mondo,
Little Man,
Delta 5,
The Zeros,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Doors,
Matthew Halsall,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.