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 Comoros and from Manchester.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Colin Newman to the funk 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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All John Coltrane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oneida record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
K-Klass,
Hardrive,
Lucky Dragons,
Slave,
Grandmaster Flash,
Joy Division,
Quantec,
The Searchers,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bush Tetras,
Deepchord,
The Human League,
The Alarm Clocks,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
New Age Steppers,
Blossom Toes,
Basic Channel,
The J.B.'s,
Funkadelic,
Youth Brigade,
Junior Murvin,
Nik Kershaw,
Johnny Osbourne,
Electric Prunes,
Dave Gahan,
Roger Hodgson,
The Kinks,
Connie Case,
AZ,
Whodini,
Audionom,
Girls At Our Best!,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Gories,
Chrome,
Sight & Sound,
Eden Ahbez,
Nico,
Lindisfarne,
The Victims,
the Swans,
The Saints,
Sonny Sharrock,
Nas,
DJ Sneak,
Outsiders,
Isaac Hayes,
Glambeats Corp.,
Albert Ayler,
Leonard Cohen,
Cecil Taylor,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Kayak,
Pantytec,
Pantaleimon,
The Blackbyrds,
Joensuu 1685,
Tropical Tobacco,
Crispy Ambulance,
Lungfish,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red, Simply Red.
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.