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 Guinea and from Lagos.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Bob Dylan to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Quantec. All the underground hits.
All Be Bop Deluxe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Underground Resistance record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Royal Family And The Poor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
These Immortal Souls,
Jeff Mills,
Marshall Jefferson,
Rites of Spring,
Masters at Work,
Tubeway Army,
The Skatalites,
Sun Ra,
Ten City,
The Beau Brummels,
Von Mondo,
Subhumans,
Kerrie Biddell,
Pere Ubu,
June of 44,
Minutemen,
PIL,
Ronnie Foster,
Rotary Connection,
David Axelrod,
Public Enemy,
Rod Modell,
The Monks,
ABC,
Howard Jones,
Young Marble Giants,
The Trojans,
This Heat,
The American Breed,
Matthew Bourne,
The Doors,
R.M.O.,
Marmalade,
Nation of Ulysses,
James White and The Blacks,
Tom Boy,
Minny Pops,
Gil Scott Heron,
Pierre Henry,
MC5,
Josef K,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bang On A Can,
Simply Red,
La Düsseldorf,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
cv313,
Avey Tare,
Freddie Wadling,
Rosa Yemen,
Scan 7,
Chris & Cosey,
Cluster,
Blancmange,
Robert Wyatt,
Zero Boys,
The Wake,
8 Eyed Spy,
Gichy Dan,
Colin Newman,
UT,
Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes, Blossom Toes.
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.