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 Antigua and from Milan.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the theremin 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 Jacques Brel to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Smiths. All the underground hits.
All Skriet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Chris & Cosey record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a synthesizer and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barbara Tucker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ronnie Foster,
Pierre Henry,
Masters at Work,
The Sisters of Mercy,
DJ Sneak,
Henry Cow,
Eyeless In Gaza,
A Certain Ratio,
Lee Hazlewood,
Public Enemy,
Brothers Johnson,
Alice Coltrane,
Johnny Osbourne,
Yusef Lateef,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mars,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Eden Ahbez,
Donald Byrd,
The Residents,
Barbara Tucker,
Rapeman,
Lyres,
Tres Demented,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ornette Coleman,
LL Cool J,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Harmonia,
Organ,
The Selecter,
Lungfish,
Lower 48,
Eli Mardock,
Todd Rundgren,
Archie Shepp,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sight & Sound,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Anakelly,
Jawbox,
Make Up,
Minutemen,
Negative Approach,
The Modern Lovers,
Grey Daturas,
Theoretical Girls,
Godley & Creme,
R.M.O.,
Urselle,
Stiv Bators,
Goldenarms,
Babytalk,
Slave,
Subhumans,
The Detroit Cobras,
Chris & Cosey,
Dead Boys,
John Lydon,
Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust, Saccharine Trust.
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.