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 New Zealand and from Shanghai.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bobby Womack to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 It's A Beautiful Day. All the underground hits.
All Davy DMX tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brand Nubian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Angels of Light & Akron/Family record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Vogues,
The Move,
Kas Product,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Monolake,
Ten City,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Kayak,
Fad Gadget,
Letta Mbulu,
Colin Newman,
The Blackbyrds,
Radiohead,
David Bowie,
Black Pus,
Skarface,
Dorothy Ashby,
Dennis Brown,
T.S.O.L.,
Albert Ayler,
James White and The Blacks,
Brass Construction,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Rufus Thomas,
Excepter,
Funkadelic,
Smog,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Tremeloes,
a-ha,
Pylon,
The Fire Engines,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Make Up,
Gong,
Kurtis Blow,
Zapp,
Black Flag,
The Young Rascals,
Khruangbin,
Bobby Womack,
Erasure,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Marc Almond,
DJ Style,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Arcadia,
Jawbox,
Crime,
Jacques Brel,
Eric B and Rakim,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Mars,
Soul Sonic Force,
Neil Young,
Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry.
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.