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 Argentina and from Columbus.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 Robert Palmer 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 Jimmy McGriff to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All Silicon Teens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yellowson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 808 and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Robert Görl,
Tubeway Army,
Angry Samoans,
Magma,
The Trojans,
Sam Rivers,
Bang On A Can,
Girls At Our Best!,
Idris Muhammad,
Organ,
the Swans,
Hashim,
Jeff Lynne,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Essential Logic,
Sugar Minott,
Malaria!,
The Fire Engines,
Davy DMX,
New Order,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bobby Byrd,
Susan Cadogan,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Big Daddy Kane,
Rites of Spring,
The Dave Clark Five,
Drexciya,
Aaron Thompson,
Jacob Miller,
F. McDonald,
Deakin,
Slick Rick,
Sound Behaviour,
Patti Smith,
Morten Harket,
Monolake,
Neu!,
Bad Manners,
The Wake,
Lyres,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ken Boothe,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Marvin Gaye,
Trumans Water,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Doors,
The Count Five,
Bronski Beat,
Dennis Brown,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Ituana,
Moby Grape,
Icehouse,
DNA,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Smog,
The Red Krayola,
Depeche Mode,
Iggy Pop, Iggy Pop, Iggy Pop, Iggy Pop.
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.