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 Guinea and from Seoul.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Joy Division to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All David Axelrod tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Todd Terry 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spandau Ballet,
AZ,
Tears for Fears,
the Slits,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Roxette,
The Dirtbombs,
Lower 48,
Aswad,
Jandek,
Outsiders,
Duran Duran,
Tommy Roe,
Jacques Brel,
Bill Near,
X-102,
The Happenings,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Charles Mingus,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Techniques,
Los Fastidios,
Simply Red,
Stiv Bators,
Urselle,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Schoolly D,
Subhumans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Stereo Dub,
Nick Fraelich,
Glambeats Corp.,
Gabor Szabo,
Sonic Youth,
Bad Manners,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Eurythmics,
Panda Bear,
Bobby Sherman,
Pussy Galore,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
L. Decosne,
The Slackers,
The Star Department,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Little Man,
Brothers Johnson,
Scratch Acid,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Zeros,
Funkadelic,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ronnie Foster,
Rotary Connection,
E-Dancer,
The Mummies,
Main Source,
Flamin' Groovies,
FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit, FM Einheit.
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.