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 Korea South and from Lagos.
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 1964 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Monks to the rap 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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Rundgren 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 a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gerry Rafferty record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fatback Band,
Index,
Rapeman,
John Lydon,
Erasure,
World's Most,
The Smiths,
New Age Steppers,
Archie Shepp,
Joe Smooth,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The United States of America,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ossler,
Matthew Halsall,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Grass Roots,
Banda Bassotti,
The Seeds,
Byron Stingily,
The Beau Brummels,
Sight & Sound,
Fifty Foot Hose,
K-Klass,
Oblivians,
The Angels of Light,
Section 25,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Adolescents,
Little Man,
KRS-One,
The Mummies,
Todd Terry,
UT,
The Cure,
Los Fastidios,
Sam Rivers,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Lower 48,
Spoonie Gee,
Dual Sessions,
Barclay James Harvest,
Graham Central Station,
Cluster,
One Last Wish,
Yaz,
Deadbeat,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Nik Kershaw,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Toasters,
Donald Byrd,
Scratch Acid,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Nas,
Sarah Menescal,
PIL,
Matthew Bourne,
Jacob Miller,
Heaven 17,
China Crisis,
MDC,
Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green.
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.