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 Finland 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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Henry Cow to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 PIL. All the underground hits.
All Pet Shop Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Das Ding 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lungfish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Tubeway Army,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Reuben Wilson,
Skriet,
Ten City,
Tom Boy,
L. Decosne,
Buzzcocks,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Grass Roots,
Lower 48,
Reagan Youth,
Masters at Work,
Man Eating Sloth,
Grandmaster Flash,
Accadde A,
Sugar Minott,
Banda Bassotti,
Wolf Eyes,
Roxette,
Smog,
The Stooges,
Gerry Rafferty,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Maleditus Sound,
The Young Rascals,
Spoonie Gee,
James White and The Blacks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Remains,
Max Romeo,
Little Man,
Eli Mardock,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ken Boothe,
The Electric Prunes,
Fluxion,
The Gun Club,
Con Funk Shun,
Ronan,
Tomorrow,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Busters,
Ronnie Foster,
The Associates,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Ituana,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Beau Brummels,
LL Cool J,
Scientists,
Alison Limerick,
The Wake,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Judy Mowatt,
The Pretty Things,
The Motions,
Silicon Teens,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.