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 Syria and from Beijing.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 The Smoke to the punk 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 Camouflage. All the underground hits.
All Cameo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Au Pairs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Marshall Jefferson,
X-102,
Minny Pops,
Fat Boys,
Sixth Finger,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Heaven 17,
Interpol,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Evens,
Sarah Menescal,
Khruangbin,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Excepter,
Dual Sessions,
The American Breed,
Magma,
the Sonics,
The Fall,
Soul Sonic Force,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Flipper,
Shoche,
Colin Newman,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Mummies,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Jacques Brel,
La Düsseldorf,
Black Pus,
Fatback Band,
Grauzone,
Severed Heads,
Man Parrish,
Kaleidoscope,
Babytalk,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Marc Almond,
Yellowson,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
H. Thieme,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Yaz,
The Cramps,
Gastr Del Sol,
Delon & Dalcan,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Rosa Yemen,
Audionom,
Subhumans,
Tomorrow,
Pussy Galore,
Donny Hathaway,
Cecil Taylor,
the Germs,
Susan Cadogan,
Second Layer,
The Searchers,
Charles Mingus,
Roxette,
The Five Americans,
Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes.
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.