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 Vanuatu and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 guitar 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 Marshall Jefferson to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Mandrill tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cluster 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agent Orange,
Max Romeo,
The Standells,
Zero Boys,
Mandrill,
Royal Trux,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Curtis Mayfield,
Jacques Brel,
Outsiders,
Howard Jones,
Peter & Gordon,
The Real Kids,
Erykah Badu,
Public Enemy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
David Axelrod,
Jeff Lynne,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Searchers,
Joy Division,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Laurel Aitken,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Soft Cell,
Aaron Thompson,
Magma,
Inner City,
Lungfish,
The Happenings,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Roy Ayers,
K-Klass,
JFA,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Moss Icon,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Human League,
The Saints,
ABC,
Mission of Burma,
The Smoke,
Gichy Dan,
Dennis Brown,
Buzzcocks,
Can,
Rotary Connection,
Crispian St. Peters,
John Lydon,
Barrington Levy,
Stereo Dub,
The Litter,
Alison Limerick,
E-Dancer,
Newcleus,
Gil Scott Heron,
Soul Sonic Force,
Vainqueur,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Mars,
Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band, Fatback Band.
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.