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 South Sudan 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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 mellotron 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 Wasted Youth to the funk 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 Hardrive. All the underground hits.
All Marine Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
Gang Starr,
Wire,
Michelle Simonal,
Joensuu 1685,
H. Thieme,
Delta 5,
The Blues Magoos,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Jesper Dahlback,
Underground Resistance,
Gang of Four,
Drexciya,
Aswad,
Wolf Eyes,
Eric Copeland,
The Toasters,
The Fuzztones,
Anthony Braxton,
Ash Ra Tempel,
DJ Style,
The Young Rascals,
Minny Pops,
The Seeds,
The Detroit Cobras,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ossler,
Porter Ricks,
Unrelated Segments,
Boz Scaggs,
Erasure,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Bauhaus,
Grey Daturas,
Nirvana,
John Coltrane,
The Grass Roots,
Godley & Creme,
10cc,
Black Flag,
Soul II Soul,
Massinfluence,
Iggy Pop,
Gong,
Camberwell Now,
Byron Stingily,
Bobby Womack,
The Walker Brothers,
Prince Buster,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
John Cale,
The Tremeloes,
E-Dancer,
Dawn Penn,
Cybotron,
Little Man,
Sarah Menescal,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kool Moe Dee,
Young Marble Giants,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.