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 Seychelles and from Lille.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Half Japanese to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Cramps. All the underground hits.
All Susan Cadogan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Cell 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jesper Dahlbäck record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Skatalites,
Sällskapet,
Curtis Mayfield,
Procol Harum,
The Shadows of Knight,
Jandek,
Fugazi,
The Blues Magoos,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Television,
Silicon Teens,
Au Pairs,
Janne Schatter,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Dave Clark Five,
Eric B and Rakim,
Scan 7,
China Crisis,
Quadrant,
Skaos,
Swell Maps,
Terry Callier,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Schoolly D,
The Alarm Clocks,
David McCallum,
ABBA,
Bobby Womack,
the Normal,
Royal Trux,
Thompson Twins,
Gil Scott Heron,
Eli Mardock,
Deakin,
E-Dancer,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Tomorrow,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Grandmaster Flash,
Soft Machine,
Ponytail,
Toni Rubio,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Joe Smooth,
Whodini,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
MC5,
Dennis Brown,
Steve Hackett,
Absolute Body Control,
Grey Daturas,
Nils Olav,
Zapp,
Ken Boothe,
Basic Channel,
Eric Copeland,
Cheater Slicks,
the Swans,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.