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 Canada and from Philadelphia.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Ultramagnetic MC's to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All The Blackbyrds tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Toni Rubio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Liaisons Dangereuses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Traffic Nightmare,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Gun Club,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Boz Scaggs,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Eric B and Rakim,
Anthony Braxton,
Half Japanese,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Joy Division,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Sister Nancy,
Mantronix,
Max Romeo,
Nik Kershaw,
Goldenarms,
Sound Behaviour,
Second Layer,
Peter and Kerry,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Residents,
Mary Jane Girls,
Fatback Band,
World's Most,
Clear Light,
the Fania All-Stars,
Rotary Connection,
Bronski Beat,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bauhaus,
Ronan,
Flamin' Groovies,
Flash Fearless,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Ossler,
Judy Mowatt,
The Doors,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lyres,
The Five Americans,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Kaleidoscope,
Amon Düül,
Aloha Tigers,
Iggy Pop,
Barclay James Harvest,
Warsaw,
Silicon Teens,
Radiohead,
The Toasters,
Scrapy,
Brand Nubian,
Scott Walker,
Scan 7,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Velvet Underground,
Robert Hood,
Henry Cow,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.