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 Mexico and from Lagos.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Accra.
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 Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Yazoo to the dance 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 Music Machine. All the underground hits.
All Ten City tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sister Nancy 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator 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 Names,
Popol Vuh,
ABBA,
Japan,
Sparks,
Ossler,
Sonny Sharrock,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Moss Icon,
Maleditus Sound,
Freddie Wadling,
Interpol,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Can,
Negative Approach,
Q and Not U,
Khruangbin,
David Axelrod,
Black Sheep,
The Invisible,
Roy Ayers,
The Wake,
The Dave Clark Five,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bob Dylan,
Hardrive,
The Gories,
The Music Machine,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Bill Wells,
Susan Cadogan,
Aswad,
the Swans,
Erykah Badu,
Deepchord,
Jacques Brel,
Section 25,
Lightning Bolt,
Yellowson,
The Dead C,
Ornette Coleman,
B.T. Express,
Y Pants,
Soul II Soul,
Darondo,
Q65,
Kenny Larkin,
Sixth Finger,
Byron Stingily,
Dead Boys,
Kayak,
Gastr Del Sol,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Scratch Acid,
John Coltrane,
Erasure,
The Techniques,
Todd Rundgren,
Blake Baxter,
Technova,
Urselle,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.