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 Micronesia and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Toronto.
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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Bobby Byrd to the crunk 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Technova 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 clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
Laurel Aitken,
Gang Green,
Eric B and Rakim,
Brass Construction,
Girls At Our Best!,
Bill Near,
Underground Resistance,
Althea and Donna,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Public Image Ltd.,
Barclay James Harvest,
T.S.O.L.,
Fad Gadget,
Derrick Morgan,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Bluetip,
Joey Negro,
Harpers Bizarre,
Man Eating Sloth,
Jeff Mills,
Anthony Braxton,
Throbbing Gristle,
Oneida,
Judy Mowatt,
Little Man,
Alice Coltrane,
The Electric Prunes,
Terrestrial Tones,
Ronan,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Faust,
Jandek,
Colin Newman,
Yazoo,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
New York Dolls,
The Monochrome Set,
Royal Trux,
The Invisible,
Faraquet,
Rapeman,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sugar Minott,
Ituana,
Joe Finger,
Ornette Coleman,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pantytec,
LL Cool J,
Rites of Spring,
The Velvet Underground,
The Doobie Brothers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Yusef Lateef,
Clear Light,
Derrick May,
UT,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Average White Band,
The Real Kids,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.