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 Guinea and from Toronto.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 harpsichord 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 Cymande to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Spoonie Gee. All the underground hits.
All The J.B.'s tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Second Layer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fluxion record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Human League,
Marmalade,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Popol Vuh,
The Kinks,
The Monks,
Reuben Wilson,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Au Pairs,
Scratch Acid,
Lyres,
Roger Hodgson,
Bobby Byrd,
Ornette Coleman,
Avey Tare,
Amazonics,
the Swans,
Whodini,
Johnny Osbourne,
Barrington Levy,
Aaron Thompson,
Lalann,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bob Dylan,
Grey Daturas,
The Raincoats,
David Axelrod,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
World's Most,
Slave,
Pylon,
The Tremeloes,
Isaac Hayes,
Oneida,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Television Personalities,
The Offenders,
Mars,
Deadbeat,
Main Source,
The Cowsills,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Remains,
Spoonie Gee,
Wire,
Eric B and Rakim,
Masters at Work,
Funkadelic,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Unwound,
The Black Dice,
Kurtis Blow,
Buzzcocks,
The Divine Comedy,
Barclay James Harvest,
Laurel Aitken,
Surgeon,
Pet Shop Boys,
Zero Boys,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bill Near,
The Leaves,
Sun City Girls, Sun City Girls, Sun City Girls, Sun City Girls.
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.