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 Austria and from Seoul.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
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 Slave to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 New Order. All the underground hits.
All Gichy Dan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ultra Naté record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Chris & Cosey,
Ten City,
Pantytec,
Eric B and Rakim,
Bobby Byrd,
MDC,
Clear Light,
48th St. Collective,
Shuggie Otis,
the Germs,
Eurythmics,
Matthew Halsall,
Gang Gang Dance,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Brothers Johnson,
Harpers Bizarre,
Depeche Mode,
Joyce Sims,
B.T. Express,
Cybotron,
The Knickerbockers,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
OOIOO,
The Detroit Cobras,
Gang Starr,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Tears for Fears,
The Monochrome Set,
The Neon Judgement,
Negative Approach,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Rites of Spring,
Big Daddy Kane,
Oblivians,
Marmalade,
Vainqueur,
Crispian St. Peters,
Soul II Soul,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Dead C,
The Count Five,
The Slits,
The Divine Comedy,
Bizarre Inc.,
Malaria!,
Gabor Szabo,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Zeros,
MC5,
Suburban Knight,
The Names,
Model 500,
Guru Guru,
Grauzone,
Brand Nubian,
The American Breed,
Mission of Burma,
Anthony Braxton,
Electric Prunes,
Soft Cell,
Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid.
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.