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 Guatemala and from Copenhagen.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the güiro 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 Infiniti to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rod Modell 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jerry's Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Don Cherry,
Cybotron,
Slave,
D'Angelo,
Television,
The Gladiators,
Audionom,
Grandmaster Flash,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Big Daddy Kane,
Kurtis Blow,
Sound Behaviour,
Fela Kuti,
Reuben Wilson,
Y Pants,
Amon Düül II,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Peter and Kerry,
Cal Tjader,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Doobie Brothers,
the Human League,
Joensuu 1685,
The Pop Group,
Tim Buckley,
Bronski Beat,
Urselle,
Kayak,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Newcleus,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Public Image Ltd.,
Connie Case,
Max Romeo,
Gichy Dan,
Barrington Levy,
Prince Buster,
The Searchers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Litter,
The Names,
Khruangbin,
Ultimate Spinach,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Barclay James Harvest,
Ronan,
Brothers Johnson,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Black Dice,
Frankie Knuckles,
Stockholm Monsters,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Gap Band,
Nas,
James White and The Blacks,
Judy Mowatt,
Sex Pistols,
The Knickerbockers,
David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie.
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.