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 Monaco and from Philadelphia.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Music Machine to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Grandmaster Flash. All the underground hits.
All Youth Brigade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ken Boothe 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?
Ohio Players,
Fat Boys,
Metal Thangz,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gregory Isaacs,
Unwound,
Fela Kuti,
T. Rex,
Laurel Aitken,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Echospace,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Niagra,
The Birthday Party,
The Fall,
June Days,
Duran Duran,
Camouflage,
Tomorrow,
Tears for Fears,
John Cale,
Dennis Brown,
Reuben Wilson,
Rhythm & Sound,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Funkadelic,
Sugar Minott,
Maleditus Sound,
The Sonics,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Happenings,
Blake Baxter,
Cameo,
Subhumans,
The Monks,
Porter Ricks,
The Black Dice,
Donny Hathaway,
Fugazi,
Brothers Johnson,
Unrelated Segments,
Kool Moe Dee,
Robert Görl,
Camberwell Now,
Eurythmics,
Lightning Bolt,
Johnny Osbourne,
the Slits,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Cal Tjader,
Roxy Music,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Pussy Galore,
The Evens,
Yusef Lateef,
Lower 48,
Ponytail,
Con Funk Shun,
Sparks,
Little Man,
Frankie Knuckles,
Barbara Tucker,
Jeru the Damaja,
Japan,
Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia.
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.