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 Sri Lanka and from Taipei.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Monks to the jazz 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 The United States of America. All the underground hits.
All Suicide tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Neon Judgement record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fortunes,
The Selecter,
Wolf Eyes,
The Barracudas,
David McCallum,
Television Personalities,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
John Cale,
Chrome,
Pierre Henry,
Laurel Aitken,
Derrick May,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
John Lydon,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Black Dice,
Kayak,
Nils Olav,
DJ Style,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Echospace,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Fugs,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Gong,
Steve Hackett,
Peter & Gordon,
The Star Department,
Sparks,
The Smoke,
Skarface,
The Doobie Brothers,
Brothers Johnson,
Moebius,
New Age Steppers,
In Retrospect,
Sandy B,
Nas,
The Music Machine,
Matthew Halsall,
Pulsallama,
OOIOO,
Pylon,
The Kinks,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Seeds,
Little Man,
Wally Richardson,
Howard Jones,
Bang On A Can,
The Moleskins,
Hasil Adkins,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Connie Case,
Stiv Bators,
the Bar-Kays,
The Vogues,
Warsaw,
Eric Copeland,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.