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 Iran and from Mumbai.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Arab on Radar to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Sunsets and Hearts. All the underground hits.
All Bizarre Inc. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deakin 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sixth Finger,
48th St. Collective,
Althea and Donna,
Black Bananas,
the Soft Cell,
The Mojo Men,
Terrestrial Tones,
Parry Music,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Trojans,
Ultravox,
Circle Jerks,
The Velvet Underground,
Idris Muhammad,
Spandau Ballet,
Sun City Girls,
Sparks,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Tom Boy,
Los Fastidios,
The Fire Engines,
Zapp,
The Flesh Eaters,
Nirvana,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Gladiators,
The Mummies,
Easy Going,
Stockholm Monsters,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Main Source,
June of 44,
Brand Nubian,
Tubeway Army,
The Happenings,
Alton Ellis,
Black Flag,
Bauhaus,
Arcadia,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Fad Gadget,
Crispy Ambulance,
James White and The Blacks,
Country Teasers,
The Birthday Party,
Big Daddy Kane,
U.S. Maple,
The Searchers,
Peter & Gordon,
Juan Atkins,
The Cowsills,
Black Pus,
Cecil Taylor,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Nick Fraelich,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Yaz,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.