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 Norway and from Jakarta.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Throbbing Gristle to the rap kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Television. All the underground hits.
All Jeru the Damaja tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sly & The Family Stone 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DJ Style,
The Raincoats,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Thee Headcoats,
Andrew Hill,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Mark Hollis,
Ludus,
Jerry's Kids,
Wings,
Ronnie Foster,
Althea and Donna,
Magma,
Graham Central Station,
Soul Sonic Force,
Kurtis Blow,
MDC,
the Slits,
Mandrill,
Altered Images,
The Flesh Eaters,
Simply Red,
Con Funk Shun,
The Evens,
Marshall Jefferson,
Fatback Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
David McCallum,
Funky Four + One,
Index,
Soft Cell,
Ornette Coleman,
Nik Kershaw,
48th St. Collective,
Eyeless In Gaza,
New Age Steppers,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
8 Eyed Spy,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Symarip,
Au Pairs,
The Human League,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Smoke,
Animal Collective,
Massinfluence,
The Dave Clark Five,
Infiniti,
Jacob Miller,
Pierre Henry,
Negative Approach,
Zapp,
The Gap Band,
Joey Negro,
Aloha Tigers,
The Tremeloes,
Pole,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Index,
The Trojans,
Depeche Mode,
Hoover, Hoover, Hoover, Hoover.
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.