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 Belarus and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Mary Jane Girls to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All The Raincoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eddi Front 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bronski Beat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sister Nancy,
Trumans Water,
The Dead C,
Electric Light Orchestra,
ABC,
The Gap Band,
Nirvana,
Anthony Braxton,
Rotary Connection,
JFA,
The Fugs,
The Sonics,
Joe Finger,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Barracudas,
F. McDonald,
Soulsonic Force,
Juan Atkins,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Freddie Wadling,
Animal Collective,
Quando Quango,
Max Romeo,
Jerry's Kids,
Lou Reed,
Camouflage,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Red Krayola,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Count Five,
Dennis Brown,
Vainqueur,
Essential Logic,
Delta 5,
Albert Ayler,
Dawn Penn,
David McCallum,
Moby Grape,
Chrome,
Sun Ra,
La Düsseldorf,
Black Pus,
Bootsy Collins,
Deadbeat,
Zapp,
Public Enemy,
Kevin Saunderson,
Bush Tetras,
X-101,
Mark Hollis,
Bronski Beat,
Mad Mike,
the Soft Cell,
Moebius,
Alphaville,
Absolute Body Control,
Dual Sessions,
The Gladiators,
Black Flag,
Procol Harum,
Bauhaus,
Agent Orange,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.