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 Fiji and from Taipei.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Moss Icon. All the underground hits.
All The Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jandek 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 a rhodes and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sunsets and Hearts record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Nirvana,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Nik Kershaw,
Johnny Osbourne,
Lee Hazlewood,
Simply Red,
Marmalade,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Trumans Water,
Terry Callier,
Flipper,
This Heat,
Erykah Badu,
The Blackbyrds,
UT,
D'Angelo,
The Martian,
Ultra Naté,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Skatalites,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Scrapy,
KRS-One,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Theoretical Girls,
The Cramps,
Fela Kuti,
The Flesh Eaters,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Jeff Lynne,
Severed Heads,
The Shadows of Knight,
Ossler,
John Cale,
Colin Newman,
Skarface,
Pussy Galore,
The Techniques,
The Walker Brothers,
Popol Vuh,
The Star Department,
Bronski Beat,
Basic Channel,
Lalo Schifrin,
Public Enemy,
The Durutti Column,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Matthew Bourne,
Thee Headcoats,
Country Joe & The Fish,
New Order,
The American Breed,
John Foxx,
Bobby Womack,
Deakin,
Mr. Review,
The Last Poets,
Marc Almond,
Lalann,
Whodini,
Suicide, Suicide, Suicide, Suicide.
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.