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 Cape Verde and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Lyon.
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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Pagans to the electroclash 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 The Alarm Clocks. All the underground hits.
All Gian Franco Pienzio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Archie Shepp 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Vogues record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Holt,
Sixth Finger,
Soul II Soul,
Laurel Aitken,
Eric Dolphy,
The Standells,
Fela Kuti,
Marvin Gaye,
Little Man,
Infiniti,
Wings,
Stockholm Monsters,
Severed Heads,
Essential Logic,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Seeds,
Kenny Larkin,
Albert Ayler,
the Germs,
Angry Samoans,
The Remains,
Nico,
In Retrospect,
Peter and Kerry,
Bill Wells,
Icehouse,
Moebius,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Curtis Mayfield,
Dorothy Ashby,
Tres Demented,
Wally Richardson,
Q65,
The Last Poets,
Tommy Roe,
The Blackbyrds,
Delon & Dalcan,
New Age Steppers,
The Young Rascals,
Deakin,
The Skatalites,
Heaven 17,
Aswad,
Bauhaus,
Sällskapet,
Buzzcocks,
Stetsasonic,
the Bar-Kays,
The Cowsills,
K-Klass,
Bush Tetras,
Qualms,
A Certain Ratio,
John Foxx,
DNA,
Pharoah Sanders,
Los Fastidios,
Jerry's Kids,
Jawbox,
The Toasters,
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear.
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.