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 Bangladesh and from Manchester.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the oboe 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 Hoover to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Blancmange. All the underground hits.
All Quando Quango tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Beau Brummels 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bad Manners,
Bronski Beat,
T.S.O.L.,
Cameo,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Slits,
Arthur Verocai,
Roxy Music,
Alton Ellis,
Pet Shop Boys,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Pantytec,
Alison Limerick,
ABBA,
This Heat,
Kenny Larkin,
Soul II Soul,
Duran Duran,
Scan 7,
Eurythmics,
Brand Nubian,
Cheater Slicks,
Newcleus,
Das Ding,
Ponytail,
Leonard Cohen,
Ludus,
Ronnie Foster,
Albert Ayler,
Erasure,
Graham Central Station,
Theoretical Girls,
Peter & Gordon,
Procol Harum,
The Skatalites,
Agent Orange,
Fad Gadget,
Deadbeat,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Dirtbombs,
The Saints,
Moss Icon,
Fear,
Tommy Roe,
Scratch Acid,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Adolescents,
Barry Ungar,
Rotary Connection,
Mars,
Joey Negro,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Robert Hood,
Banda Bassotti,
Deakin,
X-Ray Spex,
The Fire Engines,
Sonic Youth,
Young Marble Giants,
David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie.
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.