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-Bissau and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Thompson Twins to the jazz 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 the Slits. All the underground hits.
All Chris Corsano tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every New York Dolls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
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 Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
Crime,
K-Klass,
Black Pus,
The Five Americans,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Isaac Hayes,
Jerry's Kids,
Letta Mbulu,
James White and The Blacks,
the Germs,
Sparks,
Delta 5,
Pere Ubu,
Bluetip,
Marvin Gaye,
DJ Sneak,
Cal Tjader,
Donny Hathaway,
the Swans,
Bob Dylan,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Alice Coltrane,
Spandau Ballet,
Das Ding,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ossler,
Charles Mingus,
Schoolly D,
The Kinks,
Bobby Byrd,
Lalann,
Chrome,
Unrelated Segments,
Be Bop Deluxe,
MDC,
Deakin,
Joe Smooth,
Matthew Halsall,
Ten City,
Mo-Dettes,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Ultimate Spinach,
Second Layer,
OOIOO,
Robert Görl,
Roy Ayers,
The Saints,
Amon Düül,
Basic Channel,
Blancmange,
Angry Samoans,
The Music Machine,
DJ Style,
Technova,
Mary Jane Girls,
Yazoo,
Roxette,
Negative Approach,
Little Man, Little Man, Little Man, Little Man.
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.