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 Liberia and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 sitar 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 JFA to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Howard Jones. All the underground hits.
All Mandrill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sugar Minott record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bronski Beat,
Joe Smooth,
Girls At Our Best!,
Black Pus,
Blancmange,
Wolf Eyes,
Scientists,
Masters at Work,
Robert Görl,
Soulsonic Force,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Anthony Braxton,
Stockholm Monsters,
JFA,
Barry Ungar,
Bluetip,
Ice-T,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Peter & Gordon,
Intrusion,
Spandau Ballet,
Model 500,
Scratch Acid,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Erasure,
Grauzone,
Mr. Review,
Whodini,
Bauhaus,
Soft Cell,
Ten City,
The Cure,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Brick,
Visage,
the Soft Cell,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Inner City,
Television Personalities,
The Saints,
The Sonics,
Youth Brigade,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Detroit Cobras,
Jawbox,
Crispian St. Peters,
Crispy Ambulance,
Alice Coltrane,
Los Fastidios,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Harmonia,
The Offenders,
Shuggie Otis,
The Zeros,
Cecil Taylor,
Lungfish,
Tom Boy,
Liliput,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.