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 Chad and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Dennis Brown to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. All the underground hits.
All Sonny Sharrock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shoche record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ash Ra Tempel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Youth Brigade,
Das Ding,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Angry Samoans,
Iggy Pop,
Todd Rundgren,
Urselle,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
LL Cool J,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Ronnie Foster,
Banda Bassotti,
Davy DMX,
The Barracudas,
the Association,
Pierre Henry,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Pole,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Blake Baxter,
Rosa Yemen,
Joey Negro,
David Bowie,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Aaron Thompson,
Adolescents,
The Martian,
Boredoms,
La Düsseldorf,
Brick,
Minutemen,
Pere Ubu,
Tom Boy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lebanon Hanover,
Flamin' Groovies,
Joy Division,
Man Eating Sloth,
Bobby Womack,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
In Retrospect,
Ultra Naté,
One Last Wish,
Roger Hodgson,
Drive Like Jehu,
Mandrill,
Ituana,
Chris Corsano,
Marc Almond,
Subhumans,
Alison Limerick,
Gichy Dan,
A Certain Ratio,
The Monks,
X-Ray Spex,
Little Man,
Kayak,
The Count Five,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Soft Machine,
The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers.
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.