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 Cape Verde and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 organ 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 The Associates to the rock 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 Crispy Ambulance. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mary Jane Girls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fat Boys,
Gabor Szabo,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Bronski Beat,
Terrestrial Tones,
Half Japanese,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Johnny Clarke,
Warren Ellis,
The Five Americans,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Public Enemy,
Archie Shepp,
Nation of Ulysses,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Mantronix,
Franke,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Move,
The Standells,
Roxy Music,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Selecter,
Sun Ra,
Harry Pussy,
Colin Newman,
Marshall Jefferson,
Eurythmics,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Saints,
Tommy Roe,
Stereo Dub,
Lyres,
Hardrive,
Roxette,
The Count Five,
Livin' Joy,
The Invisible,
Stetsasonic,
The Electric Prunes,
Boz Scaggs,
Mars,
Suicide,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
David Bowie,
The Vogues,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Circle Jerks,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Gories,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
B.T. Express,
R.M.O.,
Fear,
The Martian,
Absolute Body Control,
MDC,
The Names, The Names, The Names, The Names.
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.