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 Mongolia and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 theremin 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 E-Dancer to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 the Human League. All the underground hits.
All Pole tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Count Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rotary Connection,
Dorothy Ashby,
Delon & Dalcan,
Gastr Del Sol,
ABC,
Eli Mardock,
Sun Ra,
Sparks,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Golliwogs,
the Bar-Kays,
Jacques Brel,
Boogie Down Productions,
Severed Heads,
Joe Finger,
Mad Mike,
Oneida,
48th St. Collective,
Eurythmics,
PIL,
New Order,
Brothers Johnson,
The Fire Engines,
Mars,
Eve St. Jones,
James White and The Blacks,
Excepter,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ponytail,
The Misunderstood,
The Litter,
Von Mondo,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Mandrill,
Make Up,
Dawn Penn,
Supertramp,
Oblivians,
The Fuzztones,
a-ha,
kango's stein massive,
Susan Cadogan,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Cymande,
the Germs,
Intrusion,
Metal Thangz,
Zapp,
Dave Gahan,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Ossler,
Connie Case,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Agent Orange,
the Normal,
Accadde A,
Technova,
CMW,
Sugar Minott,
Model 500,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.