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 Eritrea and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Vaughan Mason & Crew. All the underground hits.
All The Barracudas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Litter 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Chrome,
The United States of America,
Bauhaus,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Johnny Clarke,
Angry Samoans,
Alison Limerick,
UT,
PIL,
Royal Trux,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Alarm Clocks,
Rotary Connection,
Janne Schatter,
Big Daddy Kane,
Derrick Morgan,
Bronski Beat,
Black Moon,
The Angels of Light,
Country Teasers,
Index,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Bobby Byrd,
The Associates,
Mad Mike,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Slave,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Gastr Del Sol,
Pagans,
Con Funk Shun,
Supertramp,
Jacques Brel,
The Pop Group,
The American Breed,
Don Cherry,
Robert Görl,
The Remains,
Faraquet,
Mission of Burma,
Radiopuhelimet,
Absolute Body Control,
Aural Exciters,
Erykah Badu,
H. Thieme,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
8 Eyed Spy,
Moby Grape,
CMW,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Barrington Levy,
Black Sheep,
World's Most,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Joyce Sims,
Wings,
Ultra Naté,
New York Dolls,
Ponytail,
Easy Going,
Ludus, Ludus, Ludus, Ludus.
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.