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 Saudi Arabia and from Edmonton.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 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 Kayak to the grunge 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 Black Bananas. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott Heron tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Big Daddy Kane 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Saccharine Trust record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Absolute Body Control,
Porter Ricks,
Dark Day,
Jimmy McGriff,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Electric Prunes,
Mad Mike,
One Last Wish,
Sonny Sharrock,
Trumans Water,
Pantytec,
Y Pants,
Television,
Harry Pussy,
Josef K,
Gichy Dan,
Amazonics,
The Skatalites,
Anakelly,
Quadrant,
These Immortal Souls,
Joey Negro,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Hasil Adkins,
Sugar Minott,
EPMD,
Loose Ends,
Hoover,
The Vogues,
The J.B.'s,
Danielle Patucci,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Barclay James Harvest,
Archie Shepp,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Red Krayola,
The Victims,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Idris Muhammad,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Leonard Cohen,
Barry Ungar,
Delta 5,
Nas,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Basic Channel,
Hashim,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Curtis Mayfield,
X-102,
Sparks,
The Blackbyrds,
Supertramp,
New Age Steppers,
Au Pairs,
Kurtis Blow,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Flesh Eaters,
Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force, Soulsonic Force.
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.