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 Panama and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Ponytail to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Stetsasonic. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Matthew Halsall record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Parry Music,
The Blackbyrds,
Babytalk,
Mars,
This Heat,
Joyce Sims,
Tomorrow,
Leonard Cohen,
Peter & Gordon,
The Residents,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Slave,
Lou Christie,
Gang Starr,
The Human League,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Wolf Eyes,
Gang Gang Dance,
Minnie Riperton,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Janne Schatter,
Brass Construction,
Graham Central Station,
Crooked Eye,
Jerry's Kids,
Marine Girls,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Slackers,
The Fortunes,
The Gories,
Spoonie Gee,
Susan Cadogan,
These Immortal Souls,
One Last Wish,
OOIOO,
The Modern Lovers,
Brothers Johnson,
The Remains,
The Flesh Eaters,
Matthew Bourne,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bronski Beat,
Severed Heads,
Pylon,
kango's stein massive,
The Mummies,
The Searchers,
Anakelly,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
New Order,
Max Romeo,
Derrick Morgan,
John Cale,
Zero Boys,
Pulsallama,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Audionom,
Ohio Players,
Qualms,
Angry Samoans,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.