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 Gambia and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Grandmaster Flash to the crunk 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 Larry & the Blue Notes. All the underground hits.
All Nation of Ulysses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
The Moleskins,
Stetsasonic,
UT,
David Axelrod,
Joyce Sims,
Masters at Work,
Scott Walker,
PIL,
the Slits,
Eve St. Jones,
Funkadelic,
David Bowie,
Bad Manners,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Television,
Lalann,
Index,
Adolescents,
Crash Course in Science,
The Stooges,
Lebanon Hanover,
Stereo Dub,
Roger Hodgson,
Laurel Aitken,
Derrick May,
Suicide,
Jeff Mills,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Birthday Party,
Reagan Youth,
The Litter,
Nas,
The Raincoats,
Tears for Fears,
Brand Nubian,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Schoolly D,
Moss Icon,
Bobby Byrd,
Pere Ubu,
Echospace,
Blake Baxter,
Joy Division,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Barracudas,
kango's stein massive,
Mary Jane Girls,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Zero Boys,
Mandrill,
Fluxion,
Harmonia,
Technova,
Rekid,
Gichy Dan,
Q and Not U,
Soft Cell,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The United States of America,
La Düsseldorf,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.