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 Ivory Coast and from Calgary.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 mellotron 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 David Axelrod to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Sister Nancy. All the underground hits.
All Ken Boothe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Richard Hell and the Voidoids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Audionom,
Technova,
a-ha,
Don Cherry,
Johnny Clarke,
Pantaleimon,
Dorothy Ashby,
Bobby Womack,
Oneida,
Alphaville,
Fad Gadget,
Rufus Thomas,
The Motions,
Shoche,
KRS-One,
The Gun Club,
Saccharine Trust,
Dead Boys,
Can,
Laurel Aitken,
Joe Smooth,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
the Normal,
Dark Day,
Wire,
The Doobie Brothers,
Slave,
Eric Copeland,
Malaria!,
Los Fastidios,
Index,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Visage,
Mars,
X-101,
Nils Olav,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Reagan Youth,
Darondo,
The Detroit Cobras,
Kaleidoscope,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Names,
R.M.O.,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Doors,
Panda Bear,
Soul Sonic Force,
Mandrill,
The Zeros,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Faust,
Terrestrial Tones,
Letta Mbulu,
The Beau Brummels,
China Crisis,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Thee Headcoats,
The Mojo Men,
Cheater Slicks,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.