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 Tokyo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 spring reverb 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 Selector Dub Narcotic to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Scrapy. All the underground hits.
All The Leaves tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Model 500 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
The Black Dice,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Maleditus Sound,
Scientists,
Guru Guru,
Blake Baxter,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kerri Chandler,
Talk Talk,
The Move,
Jacques Brel,
Hoover,
cv313,
Scion,
The Pop Group,
Sarah Menescal,
Public Enemy,
Wasted Youth,
Mars,
Depeche Mode,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Mummies,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
JFA,
Metal Thangz,
Television,
Mission of Burma,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Gil Scott Heron,
Ten City,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lindisfarne,
Massinfluence,
X-102,
The Five Americans,
The Slits,
Crime,
MC5,
Max Romeo,
Ice-T,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Agent Orange,
the Soft Cell,
La Düsseldorf,
Symarip,
Archie Shepp,
Flipper,
Stiv Bators,
The Sonics,
UT,
Skarface,
Fluxion,
The Smoke,
Niagra,
Q and Not U,
Joe Smooth,
The Durutti Column,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Organ,
Absolute Body Control,
Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts.
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.