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 Rwanda 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 1960 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe 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 Blossom Toes to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Gories. All the underground hits.
All Symarip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Average White Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Seeds,
Heaven 17,
the Human League,
The Stooges,
Dawn Penn,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Niagra,
Faust,
Make Up,
The Red Krayola,
Sugar Minott,
Rapeman,
Sun City Girls,
Alphaville,
Jeff Mills,
Pagans,
Swell Maps,
Mark Hollis,
Pierre Henry,
The Human League,
Bobby Womack,
Gregory Isaacs,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
R.M.O.,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Mary Jane Girls,
Brothers Johnson,
Glambeats Corp.,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Harmonia,
Stiv Bators,
Sight & Sound,
Little Man,
La Düsseldorf,
Erasure,
Pussy Galore,
Joy Division,
Y Pants,
Scrapy,
Average White Band,
Morten Harket,
Anthony Braxton,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Andrew Hill,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Guru Guru,
Lee Hazlewood,
MDC,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
F. McDonald,
The Doors,
The Victims,
Gang Gang Dance,
Suburban Knight,
Funky Four + One,
Groovy Waters,
Eric Copeland,
Spoonie Gee,
John Cale,
The Slits,
Crispian St. Peters,
Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp, Supertramp.
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.