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 Mozambique and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 mellotron 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 Arab on Radar to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Modern Lovers. All the underground hits.
All Pole tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
10cc,
E-Dancer,
The Golliwogs,
The Real Kids,
Hardrive,
Kool Moe Dee,
Crispy Ambulance,
Janne Schatter,
Section 25,
Anthony Braxton,
Kaleidoscope,
Rakim,
The Slits,
The Stooges,
The Star Department,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Wings,
Nirvana,
Excepter,
FM Einheit,
Minutemen,
The Smiths,
Nik Kershaw,
Ralphi Rosario,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Au Pairs,
Dawn Penn,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Alison Limerick,
Lebanon Hanover,
Metal Thangz,
The Electric Prunes,
Don Cherry,
Surgeon,
Alphaville,
Thee Headcoats,
Shoche,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
La Düsseldorf,
Bob Dylan,
Agitation Free,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Average White Band,
Curtis Mayfield,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Smoke,
Subhumans,
Josef K,
Bobby Womack,
Funky Four + One,
The Blues Magoos,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Delta 5,
the Bar-Kays,
Trumans Water,
Stetsasonic,
Brass Construction,
Michelle Simonal,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.