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 Israel and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Fad Gadget to the grime 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 Reagan Youth. All the underground hits.
All John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fat Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lakeside record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Judy Mowatt,
Electric Prunes,
DNA,
Black Bananas,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Masters at Work,
Motorama,
Absolute Body Control,
Patti Smith,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Wolf Eyes,
A Certain Ratio,
Peter & Gordon,
John Coltrane,
Eve St. Jones,
Swans,
Alice Coltrane,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Wasted Youth,
Barbara Tucker,
Stiv Bators,
Mandrill,
Joyce Sims,
Bronski Beat,
Terrestrial Tones,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Negative Approach,
Severed Heads,
Crispy Ambulance,
Khruangbin,
the Bar-Kays,
Boogie Down Productions,
The Music Machine,
Danielle Patucci,
Jerry's Kids,
Fad Gadget,
Jeru the Damaja,
Nation of Ulysses,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Mr. Review,
Fugazi,
Television Personalities,
Lakeside,
The Litter,
the Sonics,
The Names,
Graham Central Station,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Pantytec,
Marc Almond,
Nik Kershaw,
Little Man,
The Blackbyrds,
Royal Trux,
Qualms,
Colin Newman,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Livin' Joy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Blake Baxter,
KRS-One,
Unrelated Segments,
MDC, MDC, MDC, MDC.
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.