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 Mexico and from Cairo.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Spoonie Gee 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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Manfred Mann's Earth Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Steve Hackett,
John Foxx,
Eric Copeland,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Aaron Thompson,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Tommy Roe,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Pantytec,
Charles Mingus,
Boz Scaggs,
Fad Gadget,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tubeway Army,
Boredoms,
Deakin,
The Young Rascals,
Arcadia,
Adolescents,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gang Green,
Infiniti,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Amazonics,
Bang On A Can,
Babytalk,
Guru Guru,
Alton Ellis,
Marcia Griffiths,
Alice Coltrane,
The Cowsills,
Yazoo,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Todd Terry,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Scientists,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Stooges,
the Human League,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Faraquet,
Hashim,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Youth Brigade,
Average White Band,
The Star Department,
Josef K,
Man Eating Sloth,
Minnie Riperton,
Radiohead,
The Mojo Men,
Essential Logic,
Aural Exciters,
New Age Steppers,
Circle Jerks,
Nas,
Andrew Hill,
Television Personalities,
Sight & Sound,
Ponytail,
U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple.
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.