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 Dominica and from Bremen.
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 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Saints to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade. All the underground hits.
All Junior Murvin tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Light Orchestra record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grey Daturas,
48th St. Collective,
Alton Ellis,
Harry Pussy,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
K-Klass,
Unwound,
Ultimate Spinach,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Kinks,
Derrick May,
The Dead C,
June of 44,
Michelle Simonal,
Rakim,
The Victims,
Ronnie Foster,
Funky Four + One,
the Normal,
Main Source,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Cybotron,
The Wake,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Arab on Radar,
Maleditus Sound,
Buzzcocks,
Girls At Our Best!,
T. Rex,
Lou Reed,
Depeche Mode,
In Retrospect,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Spoonie Gee,
Dave Gahan,
Minnie Riperton,
Aswad,
the Soft Cell,
The Slackers,
Kurtis Blow,
Fugazi,
The Move,
The Blackbyrds,
The Birthday Party,
Janne Schatter,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Young Marble Giants,
The Toasters,
The Raincoats,
Steve Hackett,
Howard Jones,
Brand Nubian,
Ultra Naté,
Laurel Aitken,
The Sonics,
Q and Not U,
Scion,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Soulsonic Force,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.