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 Suriname and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 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 Scientists to the rock 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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Pussy Galore tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Graham Central Station record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sandy B record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Birthday Party,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Young Rascals,
Technova,
The Sisters of Mercy,
June Days,
The Victims,
Kas Product,
Guru Guru,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Pet Shop Boys,
Aswad,
Moebius,
Yazoo,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Gang Starr,
Fatback Band,
Cluster,
June of 44,
Amon Düül,
Los Fastidios,
Isaac Hayes,
The Tremeloes,
the Human League,
Vainqueur,
Second Layer,
Arcadia,
The Associates,
Gerry Rafferty,
Harry Pussy,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
B.T. Express,
DJ Sneak,
Alton Ellis,
Jacques Brel,
Dead Boys,
Mantronix,
The Seeds,
Soft Machine,
Blancmange,
Letta Mbulu,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lalo Schifrin,
Thompson Twins,
Deakin,
Minor Threat,
Rapeman,
The Kinks,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Trumans Water,
Johnny Clarke,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Rosa Yemen,
Rufus Thomas,
Absolute Body Control,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Cure,
Sex Pistols,
New Order,
World's Most, World's Most, World's Most, World's Most.
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.