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 Norway and from Manila.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 mellotron 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 Interpol to the techno 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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Banda Bassotti record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
The Divine Comedy,
10cc,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
James White and The Blacks,
Pet Shop Boys,
Tomorrow,
Mars,
Crispy Ambulance,
Flipper,
Electric Prunes,
Althea and Donna,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Traffic Nightmare,
X-Ray Spex,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Saccharine Trust,
The Doobie Brothers,
Stiv Bators,
Slick Rick,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Throbbing Gristle,
Drexciya,
The Smiths,
Sonny Sharrock,
Mo-Dettes,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
New Order,
Pole,
Mary Jane Girls,
Johnny Clarke,
Cheater Slicks,
Hot Snakes,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Blues Magoos,
Von Mondo,
Blossom Toes,
Hashim,
Arthur Verocai,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Tropical Tobacco,
Hasil Adkins,
Yusef Lateef,
Lakeside,
The Star Department,
This Heat,
The Stooges,
Suburban Knight,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Marcia Griffiths,
Moss Icon,
Thee Headcoats,
Joe Smooth,
Pharoah Sanders,
Scrapy,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bluetip,
Joy Division,
The Walker Brothers,
The Modern Lovers,
Basic Channel,
Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sun Ra Arkestra.
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.