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 Philippines and from Tehran.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Youth Brigade to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Desert Stars. All the underground hits.
All Arcadia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Whodini 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Divine Comedy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Warsaw,
June Days,
Eli Mardock,
Delon & Dalcan,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Black Bananas,
Monks,
Skarface,
Unwound,
Livin' Joy,
Arcadia,
the Soft Cell,
Amon Düül,
Suburban Knight,
The Doobie Brothers,
Minutemen,
Letta Mbulu,
Black Pus,
Shuggie Otis,
Cybotron,
Gabor Szabo,
Niagra,
Cymande,
Fad Gadget,
Heaven 17,
Bronski Beat,
Marmalade,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Eric Dolphy,
Average White Band,
Stetsasonic,
The Neon Judgement,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Dead Boys,
the Swans,
Organ,
Terrestrial Tones,
Massinfluence,
Newcleus,
Echospace,
Juan Atkins,
Fugazi,
Sällskapet,
Kayak,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Magazine,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
John Foxx,
The Standells,
Hoover,
Motorama,
Todd Terry,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sun City Girls,
The Moody Blues,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Techniques,
Visage,
Jacques Brel,
Moby Grape,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.