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 Tonga and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1969 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 snare 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 Barclay James Harvest to the punk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Mars. All the underground hits.
All Mark Hollis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Groovy Waters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bootsy's Rubber Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
World's Most,
Sonny Sharrock,
Arcadia,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Yellowson,
Kurtis Blow,
The Dave Clark Five,
Sound Behaviour,
Ultravox,
the Association,
Gerry Rafferty,
Isaac Hayes,
These Immortal Souls,
Peter & Gordon,
Zapp,
Derrick Morgan,
Accadde A,
Lyres,
Radio Birdman,
The Offenders,
Gang of Four,
The Fall,
Ornette Coleman,
Crime,
Iggy Pop,
Letta Mbulu,
Procol Harum,
DJ Style,
Livin' Joy,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Trojans,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Kas Product,
H. Thieme,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Skatalites,
Fluxion,
The Techniques,
Chrome,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Jeff Lynne,
the Fania All-Stars,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Monochrome Set,
Groovy Waters,
Dennis Brown,
Main Source,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Public Image Ltd.,
Brothers Johnson,
Dark Day,
The Victims,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Beau Brummels,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Talk Talk,
Barry Ungar,
Radiohead,
John Cale,
Soft Cell,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.