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 Slovakia and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 oboe 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 The Slits to the grime kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Roxette. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Light Orchestra 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Underground Resistance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
Swans,
The Gories,
X-101,
John Holt,
Suicide,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Bang On A Can,
Andrew Hill,
The Gladiators,
Bronski Beat,
The Five Americans,
U.S. Maple,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Marvin Gaye,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Derrick May,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Malaria!,
Black Sheep,
Henry Cow,
Public Image Ltd.,
Fear,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Brick,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
K-Klass,
Fela Kuti,
Spandau Ballet,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Pretty Things,
The Wake,
Jesper Dahlback,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
T.S.O.L.,
Popol Vuh,
Sex Pistols,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Hasil Adkins,
Barry Ungar,
Warren Ellis,
The Pop Group,
Don Cherry,
Rufus Thomas,
The Neon Judgement,
Pulsallama,
Marcia Griffiths,
FM Einheit,
Gil Scott Heron,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Joy Division,
Susan Cadogan,
Q65,
Moss Icon,
The Fortunes,
Derrick Morgan,
Warsaw,
The Associates,
Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms.
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.