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 Honduras and from Lille.
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 Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Spoonie Gee to the grunge 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Qualms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scrapy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sex Pistols,
Lebanon Hanover,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Au Pairs,
Iggy Pop,
UT,
EPMD,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Thee Headcoats,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Rhythm & Sound,
Underground Resistance,
The Toasters,
Japan,
The Walker Brothers,
The Count Five,
Tears for Fears,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Fugs,
Neu!,
Quantec,
Prince Buster,
Make Up,
Pole,
Cybotron,
Ten City,
Lyres,
Alton Ellis,
Radiopuhelimet,
Average White Band,
Tommy Roe,
Marine Girls,
Bronski Beat,
Dawn Penn,
Gang Gang Dance,
Grandmaster Flash,
Camouflage,
Goldenarms,
10cc,
Royal Trux,
Fugazi,
Quadrant,
The Cosmic Jokers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
B.T. Express,
The Gun Club,
Suburban Knight,
The Wake,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Moleskins,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lou Christie,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
D'Angelo,
The Names,
Moebius,
Mark Hollis,
Saccharine Trust,
Donald Byrd,
The Sound,
Depeche Mode,
The Moody Blues, The Moody Blues, The Moody Blues, The Moody Blues.
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.