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 Yemen and from Lyon.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Motorama to the rap 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 The Walker Brothers. All the underground hits.
All Joe Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amazonics,
Ronnie Foster,
Talk Talk,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Soft Cell,
Monolake,
kango's stein massive,
Darondo,
Sixth Finger,
the Association,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Chrome,
DJ Sneak,
Tomorrow,
The Cure,
Dorothy Ashby,
Unwound,
The Gories,
Popol Vuh,
Soft Machine,
Camberwell Now,
Scrapy,
The Flesh Eaters,
The J.B.'s,
Cymande,
Kool Moe Dee,
Erykah Badu,
Bobby Womack,
Eric Dolphy,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lou Reed,
Clear Light,
The Buckinghams,
Laurel Aitken,
The Seeds,
Arcadia,
The Knickerbockers,
The Raincoats,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Roxy Music,
Deepchord,
The American Breed,
The Neon Judgement,
Brand Nubian,
Nation of Ulysses,
Dual Sessions,
The Modern Lovers,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Saints,
Public Enemy,
Kurtis Blow,
Monks,
Radiohead,
The Grass Roots,
Roxette,
Guru Guru,
Joensuu 1685,
The Dead C,
New Order,
Pantytec,
Thompson Twins,
Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish, Man Parrish.
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.