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 Uruguay and from Johannesburg.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Larry & the Blue Notes to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Standells. All the underground hits.
All Minutemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hasil Adkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Residents,
Man Parrish,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Buckinghams,
Q and Not U,
The Grass Roots,
Soft Machine,
The Mojo Men,
Funky Four + One,
Delta 5,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Big Daddy Kane,
Bob Dylan,
Gang Green,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Real Kids,
Joensuu 1685,
The Victims,
the Bar-Kays,
Bobbi Humphrey,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Moby Grape,
Nik Kershaw,
The Detroit Cobras,
Negative Approach,
KRS-One,
Warren Ellis,
The Tremeloes,
F. McDonald,
Whodini,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Bronski Beat,
The Evens,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Fuzztones,
The Durutti Column,
The Flesh Eaters,
John Lydon,
Unrelated Segments,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Remains,
Aural Exciters,
Warsaw,
Supertramp,
UT,
Bluetip,
Black Flag,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Cheater Slicks,
Tubeway Army,
Amon Düül II,
Gabor Szabo,
Au Pairs,
Rhythm & Sound,
DNA,
Lee Hazlewood,
The United States of America,
T. Rex,
Masters at Work,
The Index,
Pere Ubu,
Boredoms,
The Martian, The Martian, The Martian, The Martian.
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.