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 Comoros and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Barracudas to the techno 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 The Young Rascals. All the underground hits.
All Bill Near tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Al Stewart record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spandau Ballet,
Buzzcocks,
Pierre Henry,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
the Soft Cell,
Mo-Dettes,
The Cramps,
In Retrospect,
Cabaret Voltaire,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Hoover,
Judy Mowatt,
The Monochrome Set,
Eric Dolphy,
The Slackers,
Organ,
The Slits,
Blossom Toes,
Public Enemy,
Desert Stars,
Schoolly D,
Talk Talk,
48th St. Collective,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Metal Thangz,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Terry Callier,
Unrelated Segments,
David McCallum,
The Moody Blues,
Babytalk,
Gong,
Lalann,
Silicon Teens,
The Pop Group,
H. Thieme,
Harry Pussy,
Henry Cow,
Pet Shop Boys,
10cc,
Jacques Brel,
Lebanon Hanover,
E-Dancer,
Lungfish,
Joy Division,
Soul Sonic Force,
Graham Central Station,
Junior Murvin,
Soul II Soul,
Easy Going,
Delon & Dalcan,
Drexciya,
Theoretical Girls,
The Beau Brummels,
the Sonics,
Ituana,
Flipper,
Derrick May,
Qualms,
Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio.
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.