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 St Kitts & Nevis and from Tehran.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Columbus.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Surgeon to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rhythim Is Rhythim. All the underground hits.
All Gang Gang Dance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camberwell Now 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang of Four record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
The Smiths,
Mandrill,
The Mummies,
Public Image Ltd.,
Thompson Twins,
Jacob Miller,
Skarface,
Reuben Wilson,
Fela Kuti,
The Doobie Brothers,
Boredoms,
Brick,
Bad Manners,
Matthew Halsall,
Black Sheep,
Young Marble Giants,
DJ Style,
Cymande,
Drexciya,
Soulsonic Force,
Jawbox,
Sugar Minott,
Roy Ayers,
Crooked Eye,
Charles Mingus,
Half Japanese,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Music Machine,
Rapeman,
Joyce Sims,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ituana,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Con Funk Shun,
Lindisfarne,
The Five Americans,
the Human League,
Theoretical Girls,
Pantytec,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Banda Bassotti,
Alice Coltrane,
Bill Near,
Visage,
Chris Corsano,
Blancmange,
Minny Pops,
Joey Negro,
The Dave Clark Five,
Nils Olav,
Boz Scaggs,
The Blackbyrds,
Ronan,
MC5,
The Young Rascals,
Soft Cell,
Scientists,
The Saints,
Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt, Robert Wyatt.
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.