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 Australia and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Selda show in Istanbul.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 marimba 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 Basic Channel to the dance 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 Pulsallama. All the underground hits.
All The Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-Ray Spex record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
La Düsseldorf,
Thompson Twins,
Jeru the Damaja,
Siglo XX,
Ronnie Foster,
The Trojans,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Matthew Bourne,
Aural Exciters,
James White and The Blacks,
Babytalk,
The Mojo Men,
Popol Vuh,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Gong,
Groovy Waters,
Depeche Mode,
Donald Byrd,
The Martian,
The Doors,
Banda Bassotti,
Marcia Griffiths,
Vainqueur,
Guru Guru,
Adolescents,
The Sound,
Sam Rivers,
Loose Ends,
Fela Kuti,
Slick Rick,
DNA,
Eli Mardock,
the Association,
Zero Boys,
Robert Wyatt,
Hashim,
Trumans Water,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Soul Sonic Force,
June of 44,
D'Angelo,
Heaven 17,
The Knickerbockers,
The Barracudas,
Sun City Girls,
The Sonics,
Organ,
OOIOO,
Brick,
Kerrie Biddell,
Tubeway Army,
Ken Boothe,
Black Sheep,
Slave,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Simply Red,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Can,
Pere Ubu,
Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco, Tropical Tobacco.
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.