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 Palau and from Sao Paulo.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Liaisons Dangereuses to the grime 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 Sister Nancy. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Albert Ayler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Suicide record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gong,
Basic Channel,
B.T. Express,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Move,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Red Krayola,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Human League,
Heaven 17,
X-102,
Shuggie Otis,
The Gladiators,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
48th St. Collective,
Jimmy McGriff,
Howard Jones,
Sun City Girls,
Panda Bear,
James Chance & The Contortions,
New York Dolls,
Black Moon,
The Busters,
Ice-T,
Ultimate Spinach,
Lou Christie,
Chris & Cosey,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
U.S. Maple,
The Modern Lovers,
Aloha Tigers,
Massinfluence,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Yusef Lateef,
Bill Near,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Schoolly D,
Rapeman,
Bootsy Collins,
Bronski Beat,
Alice Coltrane,
Severed Heads,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Easy Going,
Albert Ayler,
Derrick May,
Alison Limerick,
Organ,
Mark Hollis,
the Association,
Colin Newman,
The Tremeloes,
Drexciya,
The Blackbyrds,
Can,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Dorothy Ashby,
Dawn Penn,
Chrome,
A Certain Ratio,
Jacob Miller,
Slave,
Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow, Kurtis Blow.
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.