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 Korea South and from Mumbai.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 guitar 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 Dual Sessions to the punk 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 New York Dolls. All the underground hits.
All F. McDonald tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hoover 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a PIL record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barbara Tucker,
Barry Ungar,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
10cc,
Letta Mbulu,
Panda Bear,
Jandek,
Schoolly D,
Faraquet,
Pierre Henry,
a-ha,
Rosa Yemen,
Symarip,
Eric Copeland,
The Kinks,
Stetsasonic,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Jeru the Damaja,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Gories,
Grauzone,
Scan 7,
Electric Prunes,
Man Parrish,
Fela Kuti,
Anakelly,
Outsiders,
Joey Negro,
Duran Duran,
Iggy Pop,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
the Fania All-Stars,
Glambeats Corp.,
Altered Images,
Deadbeat,
The Doors,
Bobby Sherman,
The Black Dice,
The Moody Blues,
Lalann,
Desert Stars,
The Dead C,
Shoche,
Mo-Dettes,
The Smiths,
Scott Walker,
Morten Harket,
Gregory Isaacs,
Pussy Galore,
Sandy B,
Danielle Patucci,
Andrew Hill,
Bob Dylan,
Essential Logic,
B.T. Express,
Reuben Wilson,
Skriet,
Soul Sonic Force,
Grandmaster Flash,
Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs.
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.