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 Yemen and from Calgary.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the snare 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 Qualms to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sun City Girls. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Five Americans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 harpsichord and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ludus record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Skarface,
Rakim,
Barry Ungar,
Pere Ubu,
The Sound,
Blake Baxter,
Sandy B,
Index,
Royal Trux,
cv313,
Masters at Work,
In Retrospect,
Rekid,
The Skatalites,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Susan Cadogan,
Matthew Bourne,
Joy Division,
Rufus Thomas,
Siglo XX,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Animal Collective,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Slits,
Slave,
UT,
Radiohead,
Bobbi Humphrey,
the Normal,
Spoonie Gee,
Lou Christie,
Heaven 17,
The Techniques,
Average White Band,
Reuben Wilson,
Arab on Radar,
Eric Copeland,
The Remains,
H. Thieme,
Delta 5,
Joensuu 1685,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Sixth Finger,
Los Fastidios,
Glambeats Corp.,
Infiniti,
Sarah Menescal,
La Düsseldorf,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Absolute Body Control,
Ultra Naté,
The Blues Magoos,
Peter & Gordon,
Zero Boys,
K-Klass,
Duran Duran,
Wally Richardson,
Juan Atkins,
Au Pairs,
John Holt,
Unrelated Segments,
The Moleskins, The Moleskins, The Moleskins, The Moleskins.
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.