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 Poland 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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Wally Richardson to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Dead C. All the underground hits.
All Yellowson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch 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?
Zero Boys,
Drive Like Jehu,
Reuben Wilson,
Skarface,
Bobbi Humphrey,
LL Cool J,
Dawn Penn,
Television Personalities,
AZ,
Bad Manners,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Standells,
The Wake,
Sandy B,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Todd Rundgren,
Schoolly D,
Ponytail,
Royal Trux,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
ABBA,
Rhythm & Sound,
L. Decosne,
The Last Poets,
Hot Snakes,
The Gap Band,
Altered Images,
Gregory Isaacs,
John Holt,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Adolescents,
Eddi Front,
Hashim,
James White and The Blacks,
Bluetip,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Blancmange,
The Velvet Underground,
Piero Umiliani,
Cymande,
The Modern Lovers,
DJ Sneak,
Los Fastidios,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Scion,
The Sound,
Gong,
The Smoke,
The Doobie Brothers,
Fad Gadget,
Toni Rubio,
Roger Hodgson,
Heaven 17,
Joe Smooth,
Unrelated Segments,
Rotary Connection,
Buzzcocks,
Jeff Mills,
Boz Scaggs,
Lyres,
the Soft Cell,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.