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 Australia 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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare 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 Nik Kershaw to the crunk 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 Ludus. All the underground hits.
All Lower 48 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Hood record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Maleditus Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fela Kuti,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Smog,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Gang Gang Dance,
Rites of Spring,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Albert Ayler,
Technova,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Roger Hodgson,
Deadbeat,
Spandau Ballet,
The Sonics,
Excepter,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Lungfish,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ronnie Foster,
Sun Ra,
Joyce Sims,
Swans,
Kerrie Biddell,
Simply Red,
Massinfluence,
Marvin Gaye,
B.T. Express,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Mo-Dettes,
Bill Near,
Tres Demented,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Scrapy,
Marshall Jefferson,
Alphaville,
Scratch Acid,
Suicide,
Ice-T,
The Fortunes,
The Birthday Party,
the Germs,
The Busters,
Ultra Naté,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gabor Szabo,
The Remains,
Babytalk,
Ultravox,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Bad Manners,
Kaleidoscope,
The Techniques,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Henry Cow,
Yusef Lateef,
Trumans Water,
The Shadows of Knight,
Swell Maps,
Tom Boy,
Stetsasonic,
Fear,
June Days, June Days, June Days, June Days.
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.