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 Switzerland and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 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 Au Pairs to the electroclash 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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Leonard Cohen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cecil Taylor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Star Department,
Andrew Hill,
The Pretty Things,
cv313,
Agent Orange,
MC5,
Agitation Free,
Television,
Roger Hodgson,
10cc,
Gang Green,
Shuggie Otis,
the Germs,
Jeff Lynne,
Marcia Griffiths,
Drive Like Jehu,
Gang Starr,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Babytalk,
Mo-Dettes,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Metal Thangz,
Lindisfarne,
Pet Shop Boys,
Joe Finger,
Connie Case,
Harmonia,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Seeds,
R.M.O.,
Robert Wyatt,
Boredoms,
the Soft Cell,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Roxy Music,
The Zeros,
The Index,
The Victims,
Khruangbin,
The Happenings,
Marvin Gaye,
Guru Guru,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Knickerbockers,
The Barracudas,
David Axelrod,
Malaria!,
Unrelated Segments,
Robert Hood,
ABBA,
Visage,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Donny Hathaway,
Donald Byrd,
T. Rex,
Ultra Naté,
T.S.O.L.,
8 Eyed Spy,
John Holt,
ABC,
Wasted Youth, Wasted Youth, Wasted Youth, Wasted Youth.
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.