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 Tajikistan 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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Mission of Burma to the punk 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 The Sisters of Mercy. All the underground hits.
All the Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thee Headcoats 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lee Hazlewood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rakim,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Can,
Y Pants,
Slave,
Stiv Bators,
Andrew Hill,
The Real Kids,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Birthday Party,
The United States of America,
The Saints,
the Bar-Kays,
Negative Approach,
Thompson Twins,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Rufus Thomas,
Terrestrial Tones,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Man Eating Sloth,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Slackers,
Kerrie Biddell,
Idris Muhammad,
JFA,
Quadrant,
Lakeside,
Albert Ayler,
Arthur Verocai,
Black Moon,
In Retrospect,
Bad Manners,
Royal Trux,
Suicide,
DNA,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
New York Dolls,
Pantaleimon,
Aloha Tigers,
Drive Like Jehu,
Eli Mardock,
Gregory Isaacs,
Drexciya,
Pierre Henry,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Eric B and Rakim,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Main Source,
The Red Krayola,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Depeche Mode,
Lucky Dragons,
Jerry's Kids,
The Monochrome Set,
Bootsy Collins,
Kas Product,
Byron Stingily,
Theoretical Girls,
Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie.
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.