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 Vietnam and from Seoul.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sonic Youth to the grime 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 Half Japanese. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joyce Sims record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Deadbeat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Duran Duran,
The Gap Band,
Man Parrish,
Bang On A Can,
The Techniques,
Slick Rick,
Smog,
Kas Product,
MC5,
Interpol,
Clear Light,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
June Days,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Birthday Party,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Johnny Osbourne,
Newcleus,
E-Dancer,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Chris & Cosey,
Joe Finger,
Von Mondo,
Quadrant,
Wings,
X-Ray Spex,
Eric B and Rakim,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ornette Coleman,
The Searchers,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Neu!,
Public Enemy,
The Monks,
Masters at Work,
Slave,
Arthur Verocai,
Hasil Adkins,
Toni Rubio,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Inner City,
Funkadelic,
Reagan Youth,
Kool Moe Dee,
Bill Wells,
Eric Dolphy,
Pierre Henry,
Aswad,
Camouflage,
Buzzcocks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Flipper, Flipper, Flipper, Flipper.
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.