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 Bhutan and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Youth Brigade to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Guru Guru tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wolf Eyes,
Jeru the Damaja,
Porter Ricks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Marcia Griffiths,
Theoretical Girls,
Crispy Ambulance,
Scientists,
The Birthday Party,
Amon Düül,
Bad Manners,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Brothers Johnson,
JFA,
Henry Cow,
Basic Channel,
Technova,
Dorothy Ashby,
Mission of Burma,
Jeff Mills,
Joey Negro,
Outsiders,
Freddie Wadling,
Wire,
Desert Stars,
Barbara Tucker,
Cymande,
Isaac Hayes,
Buzzcocks,
Amazonics,
the Normal,
Royal Trux,
Sonic Youth,
Jandek,
Ludus,
Nico,
the Human League,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Susan Cadogan,
ABC,
Frankie Knuckles,
Alton Ellis,
Man Parrish,
The Monks,
Jawbox,
The Stooges,
Essential Logic,
The Searchers,
H. Thieme,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Nas,
Scrapy,
Electric Prunes,
These Immortal Souls,
the Sonics,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Black Bananas,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.