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 Paraguay and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 theremin 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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux to the jazz 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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All The Red Krayola tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 8 Eyed Spy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sly & The Family Stone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
Lyres,
The Busters,
Camberwell Now,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
PIL,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
H. Thieme,
Maleditus Sound,
Eric B and Rakim,
Young Marble Giants,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Delta 5,
Los Fastidios,
Magma,
The Offenders,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Monochrome Set,
Joe Smooth,
Spoonie Gee,
Pole,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Soul Sonic Force,
Eli Mardock,
The Wake,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Curtis Mayfield,
Fugazi,
Lou Christie,
Marshall Jefferson,
MC5,
Mantronix,
Reagan Youth,
The Index,
Sound Behaviour,
ABC,
Rosa Yemen,
Sugar Minott,
The Motions,
Amon Düül II,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Ornette Coleman,
The Smoke,
Easy Going,
the Germs,
Absolute Body Control,
The Fortunes,
Deakin,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Hashim,
Section 25,
Radio Birdman,
the Sonics,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Techniques,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Johnny Osbourne,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
La Düsseldorf,
Tomorrow,
The Smiths,
Bronski Beat,
Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay.
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.