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 Turkmenistan and from Woodstock.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Mandrill to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Pole. All the underground hits.
All Blake Baxter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grauzone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lizzy Mercier Descloux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tres Demented,
OOIOO,
The Gap Band,
Anthony Braxton,
Jeff Lynne,
Chris Corsano,
Mad Mike,
Dead Boys,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Laurel Aitken,
T. Rex,
10cc,
Sex Pistols,
Hashim,
Royal Trux,
Jacob Miller,
Fear,
Swell Maps,
Bronski Beat,
The Beau Brummels,
The Velvet Underground,
The Dead C,
Suicide,
The Cowsills,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Walker Brothers,
The Gladiators,
Fat Boys,
Curtis Mayfield,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Amazonics,
Alton Ellis,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Monks,
Absolute Body Control,
Nick Fraelich,
Gregory Isaacs,
Main Source,
D'Angelo,
Bauhaus,
The Skatalites,
The Smoke,
The Index,
Oblivians,
Neu!,
the Fania All-Stars,
Nils Olav,
World's Most,
Desert Stars,
The Five Americans,
Popol Vuh,
Don Cherry,
Arthur Verocai,
Reagan Youth,
Spoonie Gee,
Bobbi Humphrey,
CMW,
The Cure,
Leonard Cohen,
The Fuzztones,
Dual Sessions,
Rufus Thomas,
Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville, Alphaville.
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.