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 Suriname and from Johannesburg.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Portland.
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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Real Kids to the rap 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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Drive Like Jehu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lonnie Liston Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Busters,
The Zeros,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Angels of Light,
Dorothy Ashby,
Don Cherry,
Ohio Players,
Depeche Mode,
MC5,
Gastr Del Sol,
ABBA,
Roger Hodgson,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Q65,
Moss Icon,
Popol Vuh,
Susan Cadogan,
Nas,
Shuggie Otis,
Nils Olav,
Maurizio,
48th St. Collective,
Aloha Tigers,
Davy DMX,
Cecil Taylor,
Sam Rivers,
Buzzcocks,
Ice-T,
Blossom Toes,
Thompson Twins,
T. Rex,
DJ Style,
Marmalade,
Robert Görl,
The Gories,
Circle Jerks,
Lou Christie,
the Normal,
The Golliwogs,
Intrusion,
Drive Like Jehu,
Michelle Simonal,
The Raincoats,
Max Romeo,
The Wake,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Remains,
Severed Heads,
Mary Jane Girls,
Bush Tetras,
Agitation Free,
Bad Manners,
Sun City Girls,
Skaos,
Gerry Rafferty,
Model 500,
Duran Duran,
Dawn Penn,
Funky Four + One,
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.