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 Uzbekistan and from Mexico City.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Robert Palmer 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 Drive Like Jehu to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 ABBA. All the underground hits.
All Mission of Burma tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonic Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 linndrum and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mary Jane Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
The Fuzztones,
Intrusion,
David McCallum,
The Raincoats,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Black Bananas,
Young Marble Giants,
Black Flag,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Music Machine,
F. McDonald,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Royal Trux,
Kerri Chandler,
Brass Construction,
Crash Course in Science,
Sister Nancy,
The Searchers,
Minny Pops,
The Shadows of Knight,
X-102,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ten City,
Kenny Larkin,
Chris Corsano,
Jerry's Kids,
Guru Guru,
The Happenings,
Smog,
Althea and Donna,
Excepter,
Barbara Tucker,
The Cure,
In Retrospect,
The Real Kids,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Kaleidoscope,
Harmonia,
The Five Americans,
Vainqueur,
MDC,
Agitation Free,
Soft Machine,
Soul II Soul,
The Zeros,
Rhythm & Sound,
Electric Prunes,
Grey Daturas,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Heaven 17,
Connie Case,
The Dirtbombs,
Faust,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Youth Brigade,
The Human League,
Judy Mowatt,
the Slits,
Kayak, Kayak, Kayak, Kayak.
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.