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 Mali and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Art of Noise show in London.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 T.S.O.L. to the funk 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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All The Misunderstood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Richard Hell and the Voidoids record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rod Modell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mojo Men,
Minutemen,
Gichy Dan,
Marvin Gaye,
The Human League,
The Residents,
Ultimate Spinach,
Funkadelic,
Gil Scott Heron,
Cheater Slicks,
Anthony Braxton,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Fuzztones,
DNA,
Crispian St. Peters,
UT,
Audionom,
Tom Boy,
Traffic Nightmare,
Junior Murvin,
Derrick Morgan,
the Slits,
Pantytec,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Nils Olav,
The Barracudas,
the Human League,
Vladislav Delay,
Gang Gang Dance,
Jacques Brel,
Black Pus,
the Association,
Dead Boys,
Minnie Riperton,
Throbbing Gristle,
Iggy Pop,
Deadbeat,
Brass Construction,
Stockholm Monsters,
Aaron Thompson,
The Fall,
Jesper Dahlback,
Porter Ricks,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The Vogues,
Letta Mbulu,
Sun City Girls,
The Durutti Column,
Bob Dylan,
Schoolly D,
Peter and Kerry,
Niagra,
The Dave Clark Five,
LL Cool J,
Lou Reed,
Mo-Dettes,
The Leaves,
Eve St. Jones,
Alison Limerick,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Shuggie Otis,
Colin Newman,
The Stooges,
The Black Dice,
Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons, Lucky Dragons.
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.