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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Monks to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Magazine. All the underground hits.
All Accadde A tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Nick Fraelich,
ABBA,
Bang On A Can,
Reagan Youth,
Make Up,
The Birthday Party,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Matthew Halsall,
Kas Product,
June of 44,
Easy Going,
Adolescents,
Angry Samoans,
Section 25,
Outsiders,
Scrapy,
Y Pants,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Bobby Womack,
Peter and Kerry,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Piero Umiliani,
Maleditus Sound,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Soft Cell,
Dave Gahan,
This Heat,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
K-Klass,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Au Pairs,
The Invisible,
Newcleus,
The Knickerbockers,
Ludus,
Albert Ayler,
Swans,
Cameo,
Suicide,
Ornette Coleman,
Moebius,
The Gun Club,
Ken Boothe,
Alton Ellis,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Letta Mbulu,
John Cale,
Gang Gang Dance,
Funkadelic,
The Misunderstood,
The Neon Judgement,
Barrington Levy,
Gong,
Animal Collective,
Rakim,
Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar, Barry Ungar.
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.