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 Morocco 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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Aaron Thompson to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Drexciya. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kevin Saunderson 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 marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flash Fearless record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Saints,
Gong,
Underground Resistance,
Magma,
The American Breed,
Marvin Gaye,
David Bowie,
Sun Ra,
Minutemen,
Rites of Spring,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ponytail,
Monks,
Gil Scott Heron,
Pole,
La Düsseldorf,
Niagra,
Brand Nubian,
Bizarre Inc.,
Audionom,
Susan Cadogan,
John Holt,
Visage,
T.S.O.L.,
Lightning Bolt,
Shuggie Otis,
Jacques Brel,
In Retrospect,
Girls At Our Best!,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Deepchord,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sixth Finger,
Nils Olav,
Parry Music,
Tears for Fears,
Sound Behaviour,
Surgeon,
Isaac Hayes,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Dark Day,
Eli Mardock,
Fat Boys,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
the Soft Cell,
This Heat,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Man Eating Sloth,
Brass Construction,
Half Japanese,
Crime,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Music Machine,
Slave,
Fatback Band,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Aswad,
Outsiders,
Patti Smith,
Guru Guru,
K-Klass, K-Klass, K-Klass, K-Klass.
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.