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 Swaziland and from Glasgow.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Eden Ahbez to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud. All the underground hits.
All Rod Modell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joy Division record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Near record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Faraquet,
Kool Moe Dee,
Jeff Lynne,
The Associates,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
David Axelrod,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Skarface,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Kurtis Blow,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Los Fastidios,
Mad Mike,
Crispian St. Peters,
Susan Cadogan,
Excepter,
Angry Samoans,
The Cowsills,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Toasters,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Sister Nancy,
Drexciya,
Charles Mingus,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Saints,
Kaleidoscope,
Spandau Ballet,
Gerry Rafferty,
Babytalk,
the Slits,
Slick Rick,
Jawbox,
Fad Gadget,
MC5,
Agent Orange,
Drive Like Jehu,
Robert Wyatt,
Albert Ayler,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Circle Jerks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
R.M.O.,
Faust,
Japan,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Cure,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Roxy Music,
MDC,
Dennis Brown,
Groovy Waters,
Traffic Nightmare,
Crooked Eye,
Peter & Gordon,
Echospace,
Boredoms,
The Selecter,
Jimmy McGriff,
Letta Mbulu,
Derrick May,
Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead.
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.