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 Bangladesh and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Buckinghams to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Moody Blues. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Country Teasers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joyce Sims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang On A Can,
The Smiths,
Qualms,
Fear,
Masters at Work,
Big Daddy Kane,
Con Funk Shun,
Tommy Roe,
Eden Ahbez,
Flamin' Groovies,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Golliwogs,
Aural Exciters,
8 Eyed Spy,
Rekid,
The Slits,
Isaac Hayes,
Minutemen,
Fat Boys,
Amon Düül II,
Deadbeat,
Erykah Badu,
Ohio Players,
Charles Mingus,
Duran Duran,
T. Rex,
Dennis Brown,
Bootsy Collins,
Nico,
Average White Band,
The Electric Prunes,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Suicide,
Al Stewart,
Kayak,
H. Thieme,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Rakim,
The Invisible,
Fad Gadget,
Alton Ellis,
the Human League,
The Cowsills,
Sixth Finger,
Mandrill,
The Victims,
Whodini,
Television,
Morten Harket,
Soft Cell,
Fort Wilson Riot,
the Normal,
Bluetip,
Rotary Connection,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Birthday Party,
New Age Steppers,
Cecil Taylor,
The Pretty Things,
X-101,
Traffic Nightmare,
Malaria!,
The Fugs,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.