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 Malawi and from Cairo.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 808 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 Bad Manners to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Marc Almond. All the underground hits.
All Slick Rick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sarah Menescal record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hashim,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Visage,
Curtis Mayfield,
Boogie Down Productions,
Black Sheep,
Cal Tjader,
The Slits,
Theoretical Girls,
Minnie Riperton,
Ten City,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Hardrive,
Bush Tetras,
Blossom Toes,
Tears for Fears,
The Names,
Sugar Minott,
Unrelated Segments,
Bad Manners,
Jeff Lynne,
Kerri Chandler,
Wally Richardson,
Lee Hazlewood,
James White and The Blacks,
Agitation Free,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Piero Umiliani,
The Dave Clark Five,
Jesper Dahlback,
X-Ray Spex,
Heaven 17,
Gastr Del Sol,
Rosa Yemen,
Jawbox,
Delta 5,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Slave,
Audionom,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
X-101,
Barrington Levy,
Lou Christie,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Fugs,
Dark Day,
Cecil Taylor,
John Coltrane,
Sex Pistols,
Make Up,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Amon Düül,
Judy Mowatt,
Barry Ungar,
The Sisters of Mercy,
the Bar-Kays,
Stiv Bators,
Arthur Verocai,
Sun City Girls,
Smog,
Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence, Massinfluence.
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.