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 Croatia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 New York and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All Parry Music tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Unrelated Segments,
Ponytail,
Bronski Beat,
Absolute Body Control,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Flash Fearless,
Yellowson,
Amazonics,
The Electric Prunes,
Ossler,
MDC,
The Beau Brummels,
Scientists,
DJ Style,
Nico,
Minny Pops,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bizarre Inc.,
Jacques Brel,
Isaac Hayes,
Sixth Finger,
Thee Headcoats,
Derrick May,
Ultra Naté,
Deepchord,
Quadrant,
Nils Olav,
Bobby Womack,
The Standells,
Bill Wells,
New York Dolls,
Bauhaus,
Visage,
Glenn Branca,
Pere Ubu,
Moss Icon,
Model 500,
The Slackers,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Music Machine,
Rufus Thomas,
Pagans,
ABBA,
June of 44,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Judy Mowatt,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Radio Birdman,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Rosa Yemen,
David Axelrod,
The Fuzztones,
The Moody Blues,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Sound,
Suburban Knight,
a-ha,
Outsiders,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Terry Callier,
Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys, Dead Boys.
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.