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 Cyprus and from Winnipeg.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan to the rock 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 Fugazi. All the underground hits.
All Y Pants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every It's A Beautiful Day record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scan 7,
Vladislav Delay,
The Slackers,
Bronski Beat,
Peter and Kerry,
the Human League,
L. Decosne,
Rotary Connection,
MC5,
Index,
Scrapy,
Symarip,
Con Funk Shun,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Don Cherry,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Livin' Joy,
Roxy Music,
K-Klass,
Terrestrial Tones,
David Axelrod,
Popol Vuh,
Fat Boys,
Gil Scott Heron,
Alphaville,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Remains,
Hashim,
Soul II Soul,
Camberwell Now,
The Fugs,
The Last Poets,
Colin Newman,
Negative Approach,
Simply Red,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kool Moe Dee,
Thee Headcoats,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Gichy Dan,
John Cale,
Arab on Radar,
Kerri Chandler,
Alice Coltrane,
the Germs,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Gun Club,
The J.B.'s,
Ossler,
Todd Terry,
Skaos,
Marine Girls,
Aloha Tigers,
Monolake,
Depeche Mode,
The Durutti Column,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Chris & Cosey,
AZ,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Kayak,
Cabaret Voltaire, Cabaret Voltaire, Cabaret Voltaire, Cabaret Voltaire.
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.