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 Equatorial Guinea and from Sao Paulo.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 arpeggiator 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 Ultramagnetic MC's to the grunge 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 Q and Not U. All the underground hits.
All Bizarre Inc. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Cell record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mo-Dettes,
X-102,
The Human League,
Von Mondo,
Chris Corsano,
Marine Girls,
Eric B and Rakim,
T.S.O.L.,
Rites of Spring,
DNA,
Alison Limerick,
Jesper Dahlback,
Matthew Bourne,
X-101,
Public Image Ltd.,
LL Cool J,
Black Flag,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Donald Byrd,
The Mummies,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Alton Ellis,
Joe Smooth,
Interpol,
The Standells,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Buzzcocks,
Alice Coltrane,
Tears for Fears,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Little Man,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sun City Girls,
Hasil Adkins,
MDC,
Cheater Slicks,
kango's stein massive,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Al Stewart,
Boz Scaggs,
David Bowie,
The Beau Brummels,
Joyce Sims,
Pylon,
The Moody Blues,
Sparks,
Michelle Simonal,
Slave,
The Evens,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
ABC,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Accadde A,
Joey Negro,
The Move,
Whodini,
Flash Fearless,
The Residents,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Anakelly,
Cal Tjader,
The Modern Lovers,
Guru Guru,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.