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 Djibouti and from Woodstock.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Barracudas to the disco 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 Sonics. All the underground hits.
All Davy DMX tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DeepChord presents Echospace record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Thompson Twins,
PIL,
Connie Case,
The Raincoats,
Aswad,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Albert Ayler,
Sun City Girls,
Alice Coltrane,
Wire,
Oblivians,
Stereo Dub,
Lou Christie,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Neu!,
Robert Görl,
Alison Limerick,
The Searchers,
Anakelly,
Michelle Simonal,
Chris & Cosey,
Lakeside,
Sparks,
Nik Kershaw,
Pulsallama,
Dorothy Ashby,
the Soft Cell,
Alphaville,
Harpers Bizarre,
Bobby Womack,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Boogie Down Productions,
Dave Gahan,
Sandy B,
Sister Nancy,
Bobby Byrd,
Dead Boys,
Con Funk Shun,
Ohio Players,
John Foxx,
Roxette,
R.M.O.,
Barry Ungar,
Todd Rundgren,
Barbara Tucker,
Gichy Dan,
The Fall,
Rakim,
Eden Ahbez,
The Martian,
Gang Starr,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Circle Jerks,
Ultravox,
Black Flag,
Andrew Hill,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Stetsasonic,
Eurythmics,
Marvin Gaye,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.