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 Mexico and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 chamberlin 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 Peter & Gordon to the techno 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 Thee Headcoats. All the underground hits.
All Tubeway Army tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ornette Coleman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lower 48 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Hood,
The Grass Roots,
The Flesh Eaters,
Rosa Yemen,
Gil Scott Heron,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Susan Cadogan,
Silicon Teens,
The Slits,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Sam Rivers,
Barclay James Harvest,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Shuggie Otis,
the Normal,
The Tremeloes,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Wolf Eyes,
This Heat,
Fatback Band,
The Remains,
The Trojans,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Loose Ends,
John Cale,
Pylon,
The Mojo Men,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
the Germs,
Flash Fearless,
Brothers Johnson,
Symarip,
Brick,
The Music Machine,
Japan,
R.M.O.,
Ossler,
Lakeside,
Scratch Acid,
Bizarre Inc.,
Drexciya,
The Neon Judgement,
Robert Görl,
Television,
Flipper,
Tears for Fears,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
T.S.O.L.,
Mantronix,
Dual Sessions,
Blake Baxter,
The Moleskins,
Kenny Larkin,
Visage,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Robert Wyatt,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Stereo Dub,
The Birthday Party,
The J.B.'s,
Mr. Review,
In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect.
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.