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 Argentina and from Toronto.
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 Philadelphia and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Chrome to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Q and Not U. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New Order record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Aaron Thompson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joy Division,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Babytalk,
Television Personalities,
Brand Nubian,
Agitation Free,
Eli Mardock,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Fall,
Tears for Fears,
Absolute Body Control,
The New Christs,
A Certain Ratio,
Crispy Ambulance,
Little Man,
Schoolly D,
The Velvet Underground,
The Searchers,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Count Five,
Dawn Penn,
The Barracudas,
Procol Harum,
The Happenings,
Alice Coltrane,
Livin' Joy,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ultra Naté,
Ponytail,
Matthew Bourne,
Adolescents,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Smog,
Unwound,
Jeru the Damaja,
Eurythmics,
Juan Atkins,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Soul II Soul,
New Order,
Ludus,
Lower 48,
June Days,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Maurizio,
Frankie Knuckles,
The Invisible,
Marc Almond,
Tropical Tobacco,
Aswad,
The Red Krayola,
The Gories,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Half Japanese,
Bob Dylan,
Sparks,
The Alarm Clocks,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Hoover,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.