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 Cape Verde and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Glenn Branca 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 Unwound. All the underground hits.
All Sällskapet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 808 and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joey Negro record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Image Ltd.,
Ornette Coleman,
Gregory Isaacs,
Nils Olav,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Hashim,
Kool Moe Dee,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Letta Mbulu,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Junior Murvin,
The Gun Club,
Reuben Wilson,
Television,
EPMD,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Cameo,
Traffic Nightmare,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Soft Cell,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Flipper,
Y Pants,
Isaac Hayes,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Dual Sessions,
Television Personalities,
The Slackers,
Swans,
MC5,
Fluxion,
Patti Smith,
R.M.O.,
Carl Craig,
Lungfish,
Electric Prunes,
48th St. Collective,
The Human League,
Pierre Henry,
Blossom Toes,
Kerri Chandler,
Mark Hollis,
X-102,
Wire,
The J.B.'s,
Moebius,
Ken Boothe,
Idris Muhammad,
Pantaleimon,
Black Flag,
Silicon Teens,
The Real Kids,
Crooked Eye,
Terry Callier,
Electric Light Orchestra,
kango's stein massive,
Johnny Clarke,
Bootsy Collins,
The Gories,
The Slits,
Eric B and Rakim,
Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station.
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.