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 China and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 güiro 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 Mantronix to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All Masters at Work tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX 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 a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slave 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?
Barrington Levy,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Juan Atkins,
Soft Machine,
Minny Pops,
Eric B and Rakim,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Inner City,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Bobby Womack,
The Last Poets,
Royal Trux,
Silicon Teens,
Anthony Braxton,
the Germs,
Dawn Penn,
The Knickerbockers,
Crime,
China Crisis,
Swans,
Fela Kuti,
Henry Cow,
Cluster,
Wire,
Jimmy McGriff,
Iggy Pop,
Brothers Johnson,
The Skatalites,
Bootsy Collins,
Qualms,
Man Parrish,
Ten City,
Brass Construction,
Nils Olav,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Johnny Clarke,
The Leaves,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Gang Green,
Scan 7,
Anakelly,
Minnie Riperton,
the Swans,
Don Cherry,
Swell Maps,
Zero Boys,
Suicide,
Mantronix,
D'Angelo,
Mad Mike,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Gang Gang Dance,
Hasil Adkins,
The Invisible,
Jacques Brel,
Toni Rubio,
Ossler,
Motorama,
Sugar Minott,
Bluetip,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.