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 Chad and from Hong Kong.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 L. Decosne. All the underground hits.
All Vainqueur tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Outsiders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Frankie Knuckles record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sam Rivers,
Porter Ricks,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Bobby Sherman,
Sound Behaviour,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Dawn Penn,
Curtis Mayfield,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Toni Rubio,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Kaleidoscope,
The Dirtbombs,
Gang Starr,
The Last Poets,
The Human League,
Duran Duran,
June of 44,
The Young Rascals,
the Soft Cell,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Walker Brothers,
Newcleus,
Nirvana,
Eve St. Jones,
London Community Gospel Choir,
David Bowie,
Ken Boothe,
The Stooges,
The Offenders,
Scott Walker,
Y Pants,
ABBA,
Anakelly,
Pantytec,
the Slits,
Accadde A,
Index,
Half Japanese,
Masters at Work,
Yusef Lateef,
The Searchers,
Jeru the Damaja,
Scrapy,
Minnie Riperton,
Sun City Girls,
Animal Collective,
Goldenarms,
Kool Moe Dee,
Howard Jones,
Banda Bassotti,
The Beau Brummels,
Warren Ellis,
Eurythmics,
The Shadows of Knight,
Gil Scott Heron,
Little Man,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Blues Magoos,
Tears for Fears,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Gabor Szabo,
Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon, Surgeon.
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.