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 the UAE and from Woodstock.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 arpeggiator 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 Byron Stingily to the crunk 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 MC5. All the underground hits.
All John Foxx tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Country Joe & The Fish 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 mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roxette record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sam Rivers,
La Düsseldorf,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sight & Sound,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Bluetip,
Funky Four + One,
Banda Bassotti,
Swell Maps,
Gichy Dan,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Crash Course in Science,
Animal Collective,
Anthony Braxton,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Doobie Brothers,
Jesper Dahlback,
Soft Cell,
This Heat,
Piero Umiliani,
Rites of Spring,
Hoover,
The Doors,
Television,
Bob Dylan,
The Sound,
Underground Resistance,
The Shadows of Knight,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eric B and Rakim,
F. McDonald,
10cc,
Interpol,
EPMD,
Maurizio,
Scratch Acid,
The Divine Comedy,
The Golliwogs,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Matthew Halsall,
Sonic Youth,
Black Flag,
Spoonie Gee,
Metal Thangz,
Au Pairs,
Dave Gahan,
Jacques Brel,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Tom Boy,
Graham Central Station,
Sugar Minott,
June of 44,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
8 Eyed Spy,
Ohio Players,
Outsiders,
Davy DMX,
Franke,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Frankie Knuckles,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Yazoo,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes.
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.