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 Rwanda and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 arpeggiator 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane 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 Don Cherry. All the underground hits.
All Sun City Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Magazine record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Niagra 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?
Pharoah Sanders,
Max Romeo,
Jeff Lynne,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gang Gang Dance,
Zero Boys,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Gun Club,
Banda Bassotti,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Bad Manners,
The Motions,
Circle Jerks,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Henry Cow,
Ralphi Rosario,
Swans,
John Lydon,
Glenn Branca,
Porter Ricks,
Eddi Front,
Delon & Dalcan,
Bauhaus,
Yaz,
8 Eyed Spy,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Searchers,
Wire,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Livin' Joy,
Rotary Connection,
Marcia Griffiths,
Colin Newman,
John Holt,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Velvet Underground,
Audionom,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Laurel Aitken,
Main Source,
The Saints,
La Düsseldorf,
Outsiders,
Hasil Adkins,
Animal Collective,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Deadbeat,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Alphaville,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Last Poets,
The United States of America,
Joe Smooth,
Boredoms,
Peter & Gordon,
The Dirtbombs,
Average White Band,
Scrapy,
The Victims,
Agitation Free,
The Index,
Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike, Mad Mike.
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.