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 Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 synthesizer 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 Make Up to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Basic Channel record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Aswad record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crispian St. Peters,
The Pop Group,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Yusef Lateef,
Cymande,
Tommy Roe,
Quadrant,
Kool Moe Dee,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Gladiators,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Trojans,
Yaz,
KRS-One,
China Crisis,
Sparks,
Stiv Bators,
Neu!,
Ituana,
Joyce Sims,
DNA,
Gang of Four,
Symarip,
The Zeros,
Khruangbin,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Soul II Soul,
Judy Mowatt,
Man Parrish,
Avey Tare,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Young Marble Giants,
The Gun Club,
K-Klass,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Barry Ungar,
CMW,
A Certain Ratio,
Newcleus,
Liliput,
New Age Steppers,
Grandmaster Flash,
Colin Newman,
Deakin,
Ken Boothe,
Subhumans,
Bill Wells,
Lalann,
The Busters,
Mission of Burma,
Suburban Knight,
Arcadia,
the Sonics,
Alton Ellis,
The Monochrome Set,
Junior Murvin,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Lower 48,
Ultimate Spinach,
B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express.
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.