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 Cambodia 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 1964 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Tommy Roe to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All Goldenarms tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Can 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Standells record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Glambeats Corp.,
H. Thieme,
Alice Coltrane,
Blancmange,
Country Teasers,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Remains,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Buzzcocks,
Barrington Levy,
Juan Atkins,
Duran Duran,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Marshall Jefferson,
Steve Hackett,
Au Pairs,
Surgeon,
Marvin Gaye,
Joensuu 1685,
The Young Rascals,
Guru Guru,
The Mummies,
Sandy B,
Shoche,
Wasted Youth,
Michelle Simonal,
Graham Central Station,
Shuggie Otis,
Pagans,
The Motions,
Henry Cow,
Aaron Thompson,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Knickerbockers,
Byron Stingily,
T.S.O.L.,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
the Bar-Kays,
The Doobie Brothers,
Ken Boothe,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sixth Finger,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Radiopuhelimet,
Jerry's Kids,
The Moleskins,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Robert Wyatt,
Roger Hodgson,
DJ Sneak,
Ituana,
Rhythm & Sound,
Slave,
Massinfluence,
The Electric Prunes,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Eric Dolphy,
Zapp,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage, Camouflage.
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.