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 Morocco and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Donald Fagen 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 Tom Boy to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Robert Hood. All the underground hits.
All Kaleidoscope tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Angels of Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Buckinghams,
Marmalade,
Heaven 17,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Barracudas,
Goldenarms,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Lebanon Hanover,
Subhumans,
Saccharine Trust,
the Association,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Standells,
Dual Sessions,
Joyce Sims,
Das Ding,
Crispian St. Peters,
Stetsasonic,
Talk Talk,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Stooges,
Jawbox,
Zero Boys,
ABC,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Monolake,
Youth Brigade,
Mad Mike,
Thee Headcoats,
B.T. Express,
MDC,
Ohio Players,
The Mojo Men,
Blossom Toes,
Moss Icon,
Bob Dylan,
Aural Exciters,
Gerry Rafferty,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Mo-Dettes,
the Germs,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Intrusion,
ABBA,
Warsaw,
Excepter,
Scratch Acid,
Los Fastidios,
Barry Ungar,
Icehouse,
Glenn Branca,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Al Stewart,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Slick Rick,
Cybotron,
Fear,
The Neon Judgement,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound, Sight & Sound.
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.