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 Guatemala and from Cairo.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Man Parrish to the electroclash 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 Audionom. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lalann record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 mellotron and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cybotron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
The Durutti Column,
Q and Not U,
The Electric Prunes,
the Bar-Kays,
The Angels of Light,
KRS-One,
Swans,
Ornette Coleman,
Underground Resistance,
Audionom,
Gong,
Rhythm & Sound,
Suburban Knight,
Suicide,
Gang of Four,
The Pretty Things,
Nation of Ulysses,
Circle Jerks,
Kurtis Blow,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Susan Cadogan,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Joe Smooth,
the Soft Cell,
Unwound,
Matthew Bourne,
Todd Terry,
The Cramps,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Doors,
Sparks,
Blancmange,
Jeff Lynne,
Pagans,
Mr. Review,
Crispian St. Peters,
Saccharine Trust,
Masters at Work,
The New Christs,
Guru Guru,
Lou Reed,
Amon Düül,
Mars,
R.M.O.,
Alton Ellis,
Johnny Osbourne,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sonny Sharrock,
Ronan,
Rotary Connection,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bobby Womack,
The Motions,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Bauhaus,
Robert Hood,
the Human League,
Crooked Eye,
Monks,
Quando Quango,
Cameo, Cameo, Cameo, Cameo.
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.