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 Cuba and from Delhi.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Ludus to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Grandmaster Flash. All the underground hits.
All Jimmy McGriff tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Negative Approach record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
PIL,
Arab on Radar,
the Sonics,
Echospace,
John Foxx,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Rekid,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
The Count Five,
R.M.O.,
Dark Day,
Terry Callier,
Lucky Dragons,
Barrington Levy,
Model 500,
Excepter,
Black Bananas,
Tom Boy,
Neu!,
Anthony Braxton,
Bush Tetras,
Alton Ellis,
Sex Pistols,
Gang Green,
The Fugs,
Quando Quango,
D'Angelo,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Associates,
Yellowson,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ornette Coleman,
Oblivians,
This Heat,
Pere Ubu,
Loose Ends,
Peter and Kerry,
Crash Course in Science,
Connie Case,
Anakelly,
Tropical Tobacco,
Icehouse,
Michelle Simonal,
Electric Prunes,
Sällskapet,
T.S.O.L.,
the Human League,
Soft Machine,
Underground Resistance,
Fluxion,
The Monks,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Crispy Ambulance,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Barry Ungar,
Supertramp,
Scan 7,
Japan,
It's A Beautiful Day, It's A Beautiful Day, It's A Beautiful Day, It's A Beautiful Day.
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.