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 Tunisia 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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the 808 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 The Raincoats to the grunge 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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Marvin Gaye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Erasure record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jeff Lynne,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Donny Hathaway,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
OOIOO,
Camouflage,
Bobby Byrd,
John Holt,
The Modern Lovers,
Rotary Connection,
Schoolly D,
a-ha,
Quando Quango,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Sun Ra,
Duran Duran,
Black Bananas,
E-Dancer,
The Dirtbombs,
Sight & Sound,
Ten City,
Thompson Twins,
The Alarm Clocks,
Brothers Johnson,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Johnny Osbourne,
Scratch Acid,
Barclay James Harvest,
Cheater Slicks,
Section 25,
Glambeats Corp.,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Intrusion,
Alton Ellis,
Eric Dolphy,
Nick Fraelich,
The Fuzztones,
Youth Brigade,
Cymande,
Hardrive,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Fire Engines,
Marvin Gaye,
Mandrill,
Public Image Ltd.,
Hot Snakes,
Amon Düül,
Bizarre Inc.,
Siglo XX,
Ohio Players,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
LL Cool J,
ABBA,
The Moody Blues,
The Golliwogs,
These Immortal Souls,
Skarface,
Los Fastidios,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills, Jeff Mills.
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.