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 Burundi and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1969 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Rites of Spring to the funk 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 Hashim. All the underground hits.
All Joey Negro tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Smoke 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Light Orchestra,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Birthday Party,
Donny Hathaway,
Derrick May,
Tropical Tobacco,
L. Decosne,
The Shadows of Knight,
Los Fastidios,
This Heat,
Cluster,
The Mojo Men,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Ronan,
Oblivians,
Brass Construction,
The Smoke,
Stereo Dub,
Scientists,
John Cale,
Metal Thangz,
Althea and Donna,
Lindisfarne,
The Sound,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Techniques,
The Invisible,
Eric Copeland,
Bush Tetras,
Gabor Szabo,
David McCallum,
Deepchord,
Matthew Halsall,
Con Funk Shun,
Mantronix,
Matthew Bourne,
Arcadia,
The Slackers,
Skriet,
The Human League,
Gang Starr,
Roger Hodgson,
Gang Gang Dance,
Slick Rick,
The Sonics,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Offenders,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Niagra,
Brick,
The Barracudas,
Liliput,
Rotary Connection,
Don Cherry,
Mandrill,
Archie Shepp,
Von Mondo,
Curtis Mayfield,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.