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 Burkina and from New York.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 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 Colin Newman to the rock 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 Suburban Knight. All the underground hits.
All Yusef Lateef tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Skriet,
The Slits,
Glenn Branca,
Derrick May,
Chris & Cosey,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Echospace,
Wasted Youth,
The Beau Brummels,
AZ,
Nik Kershaw,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Matthew Halsall,
Shuggie Otis,
Radiohead,
Dead Boys,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Pet Shop Boys,
OOIOO,
ABC,
the Swans,
Crispy Ambulance,
Reuben Wilson,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Sonics,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Robert Görl,
X-102,
Dave Gahan,
Delon & Dalcan,
Guru Guru,
The Index,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Young Rascals,
U.S. Maple,
Rod Modell,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Fad Gadget,
Ludus,
The Shadows of Knight,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Brass Construction,
Rapeman,
The United States of America,
The Durutti Column,
Fort Wilson Riot,
David Axelrod,
Reagan Youth,
Khruangbin,
Fluxion,
The Human League,
Janne Schatter,
The Standells,
Aural Exciters,
The Zeros,
The Gories,
Ronan,
Arab on Radar,
Ken Boothe,
Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army.
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.