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 Senegal and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 synthesizer 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 Wolf Eyes to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Neon Judgement. All the underground hits.
All Graham Central Station tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Moon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kurtis Blow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dave Clark Five,
Eden Ahbez,
The Residents,
The Doors,
Arab on Radar,
Josef K,
8 Eyed Spy,
Bad Manners,
Joe Finger,
Sun City Girls,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Smiths,
Barry Ungar,
The Cramps,
Brothers Johnson,
Nils Olav,
The Sound,
Yazoo,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Jacob Miller,
The Star Department,
F. McDonald,
John Holt,
Jeru the Damaja,
Aloha Tigers,
The Fire Engines,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Unwound,
MDC,
Kurtis Blow,
Public Enemy,
Pierre Henry,
Iggy Pop,
Soft Cell,
The Misunderstood,
Joensuu 1685,
Tubeway Army,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Marine Girls,
The Slackers,
Rapeman,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Big Daddy Kane,
Lakeside,
Mary Jane Girls,
The New Christs,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Delta 5,
Fugazi,
Yusef Lateef,
Youth Brigade,
The Human League,
Moby Grape,
Lower 48,
Rites of Spring,
AZ,
Black Pus,
Goldenarms,
Cal Tjader,
Danielle Patucci,
Janne Schatter,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.