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 Ghana and from Halifax.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
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 Reagan Youth to the grime 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 Nas. All the underground hits.
All Teenage Jesus and the Jerks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pagans 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 '50s 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 Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DNA,
Duran Duran,
Stiv Bators,
Adolescents,
Bauhaus,
Godley & Creme,
Yazoo,
Tres Demented,
Scion,
Sex Pistols,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Pretty Things,
Cameo,
the Germs,
Davy DMX,
Loose Ends,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Television,
Shuggie Otis,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
John Foxx,
Joensuu 1685,
The Victims,
Sarah Menescal,
The Fuzztones,
Radiohead,
Swans,
Frankie Knuckles,
Jacques Brel,
The Modern Lovers,
Anthony Braxton,
The Fire Engines,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Royal Trux,
Siglo XX,
The Birthday Party,
Blossom Toes,
Rapeman,
Ronan,
Hashim,
Darondo,
Crooked Eye,
Lalann,
Max Romeo,
Marine Girls,
Banda Bassotti,
Black Flag,
the Slits,
The Divine Comedy,
The Smoke,
Jeff Mills,
Jandek,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Derrick May,
Arcadia,
The Dirtbombs,
John Cale,
Freddie Wadling,
Nirvana,
Newcleus, Newcleus, Newcleus, Newcleus.
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.