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 Estonia 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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the 808 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 Mary Jane Girls to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Das Ding. All the underground hits.
All Robert Wyatt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Erasure record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Babytalk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scientists,
Bad Manners,
Bluetip,
Agitation Free,
Sun Ra,
Bobby Byrd,
Lower 48,
Country Teasers,
Half Japanese,
The Gories,
Unwound,
Altered Images,
Maurizio,
The Names,
Motorama,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Max Romeo,
Peter & Gordon,
Alton Ellis,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Livin' Joy,
The Associates,
Pantytec,
Excepter,
Von Mondo,
The Dead C,
Janne Schatter,
The Knickerbockers,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Magma,
Minnie Riperton,
Drexciya,
Technova,
Terry Callier,
Pagans,
Gang Starr,
Derrick May,
The Evens,
Talk Talk,
Byron Stingily,
Bill Wells,
Grandmaster Flash,
Pussy Galore,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Moby Grape,
X-102,
The Cure,
DNA,
Goldenarms,
Fela Kuti,
Joyce Sims,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Victims,
Sex Pistols,
June of 44,
Sixth Finger,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Visage,
Fear,
Lalann,
Godley & Creme,
Sandy B, Sandy B, Sandy B, Sandy B.
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.