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 Kuwait and from Lagos.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Silicon Teens to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All Scratch Acid tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Velvet Underground record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MC5,
Wally Richardson,
The United States of America,
Max Romeo,
Kaleidoscope,
Heaven 17,
The Fortunes,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Donny Hathaway,
One Last Wish,
Tropical Tobacco,
ABBA,
Altered Images,
Scientists,
Sonny Sharrock,
Piero Umiliani,
Letta Mbulu,
Jesper Dahlback,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Cecil Taylor,
Massinfluence,
Dark Day,
Graham Central Station,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Offenders,
Glenn Branca,
Boogie Down Productions,
Bronski Beat,
Lindisfarne,
The Litter,
Jacques Brel,
Index,
The Seeds,
Trumans Water,
The Fall,
Mad Mike,
June Days,
Minnie Riperton,
The Stooges,
The Flesh Eaters,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Lower 48,
Althea and Donna,
Brothers Johnson,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Bauhaus,
Procol Harum,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Pretty Things,
10cc,
T.S.O.L.,
Delta 5,
Inner City,
Loose Ends,
Vainqueur,
Chrome,
Mission of Burma,
The Standells,
the Slits,
Crime,
Sandy B,
Bush Tetras,
Moby Grape,
Angry Samoans,
Mr. Review, Mr. Review, Mr. Review, Mr. Review.
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.