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 Jamaica and from Sao Paulo.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Soul II Soul to the dance 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 Second Layer. All the underground hits.
All Kayak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Circle Jerks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The American Breed record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
China Crisis,
Harry Pussy,
John Holt,
The Busters,
Adolescents,
Gang Gang Dance,
Eve St. Jones,
Silicon Teens,
Animal Collective,
Ken Boothe,
Swans,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Zero Boys,
Stiv Bators,
Eric Copeland,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Marmalade,
The Fortunes,
Joyce Sims,
Pagans,
Tropical Tobacco,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
John Foxx,
Arab on Radar,
Scion,
The Vogues,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Alphaville,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Count Five,
Jacques Brel,
Erykah Badu,
The Monks,
Kaleidoscope,
Roxy Music,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Grass Roots,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Faraquet,
the Soft Cell,
Peter and Kerry,
the Swans,
Wally Richardson,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Yusef Lateef,
London Community Gospel Choir,
DJ Style,
Lakeside,
Minutemen,
Johnny Clarke,
Lucky Dragons,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Cheater Slicks,
Severed Heads,
Black Bananas,
The Five Americans,
Buzzcocks,
The Walker Brothers,
The Victims, The Victims, The Victims, The Victims.
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.