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 Eritrea and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Junior Murvin to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Robert Hood. All the underground hits.
All Goldenarms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pagans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Divine Comedy,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Associates,
Terry Callier,
Youth Brigade,
Black Moon,
The Victims,
D'Angelo,
Stereo Dub,
Fugazi,
Scratch Acid,
Stetsasonic,
Jeff Mills,
Blossom Toes,
The Smoke,
Ornette Coleman,
Alice Coltrane,
Tres Demented,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Evens,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Robert Wyatt,
EPMD,
New Order,
Throbbing Gristle,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Index,
Eli Mardock,
Mark Hollis,
The Flesh Eaters,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Simply Red,
John Foxx,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gang Starr,
Zero Boys,
The Blues Magoos,
The Remains,
Peter and Kerry,
Tears for Fears,
Little Man,
The Music Machine,
Jandek,
Soul II Soul,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Das Ding,
The Angels of Light,
Television Personalities,
Dead Boys,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Bizarre Inc.,
Stiv Bators,
Robert Hood,
Section 25,
John Cale,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Main Source,
The Black Dice,
Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja.
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.