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 Hungary and from Beijing.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Litter to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity. All the underground hits.
All Bizarre Inc. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott Heron 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Be Bop Deluxe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Liliput,
Leonard Cohen,
Camberwell Now,
Judy Mowatt,
Eric Copeland,
Alice Coltrane,
Public Enemy,
The Shadows of Knight,
Bauhaus,
A Certain Ratio,
Davy DMX,
Flipper,
Blancmange,
Symarip,
Johnny Clarke,
Glambeats Corp.,
Scan 7,
The Mummies,
Al Stewart,
Grey Daturas,
Cameo,
Nils Olav,
Outsiders,
Angry Samoans,
Guru Guru,
Tom Boy,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Agent Orange,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Newcleus,
Byron Stingily,
Idris Muhammad,
Janne Schatter,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Prince Buster,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Minutemen,
Lightning Bolt,
Sound Behaviour,
Bobby Byrd,
Q and Not U,
Black Moon,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Erykah Badu,
the Sonics,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The J.B.'s,
Joe Smooth,
The Names,
Steve Hackett,
The Birthday Party,
Joy Division,
Iggy Pop,
Echospace,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Tropical Tobacco,
EPMD,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Dennis Brown,
Altered Images,
Throbbing Gristle,
Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson, Wally Richardson.
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.