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 Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 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 Pagans to the rock 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 Make Up. All the underground hits.
All Freddie Wadling tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Durutti Column record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharoah Sanders,
Ossler,
Yusef Lateef,
David Bowie,
Visage,
Niagra,
David McCallum,
Index,
Scratch Acid,
Crispy Ambulance,
Jandek,
Jeff Lynne,
The New Christs,
Pussy Galore,
Davy DMX,
Barbara Tucker,
Traffic Nightmare,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pere Ubu,
In Retrospect,
Nirvana,
Adolescents,
The Real Kids,
The Happenings,
Soft Machine,
Maleditus Sound,
Reuben Wilson,
Gabor Szabo,
Scott Walker,
Alton Ellis,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Idris Muhammad,
Porter Ricks,
Thompson Twins,
Sonic Youth,
Eric Copeland,
Minor Threat,
The Selecter,
Lungfish,
Don Cherry,
Organ,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Q65,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Hoover,
Joey Negro,
Young Marble Giants,
Joyce Sims,
Sex Pistols,
PIL,
Pole,
Mark Hollis,
Swell Maps,
Livin' Joy,
Surgeon,
Ludus,
Toni Rubio,
Fatback Band,
Funky Four + One,
the Human League,
Quantec,
Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone.
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.