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 Uzbekistan 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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Sexual Harrassment to the grime 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 Lightning Bolt. All the underground hits.
All Deadbeat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suicide 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Fraelich record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Victims,
Ponytail,
Anthony Braxton,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Boz Scaggs,
Fear,
the Germs,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Electric Prunes,
R.M.O.,
The Gap Band,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Leaves,
Archie Shepp,
Unrelated Segments,
Swans,
The Neon Judgement,
Derrick May,
The Skatalites,
Dorothy Ashby,
Tom Boy,
Thompson Twins,
Pantaleimon,
Blake Baxter,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
PIL,
X-101,
Roxette,
Brothers Johnson,
Accadde A,
Animal Collective,
The Birthday Party,
Nico,
Banda Bassotti,
Colin Newman,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Ten City,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Rakim,
Guru Guru,
Gerry Rafferty,
the Sonics,
Godley & Creme,
Marine Girls,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Human League,
Dennis Brown,
Sparks,
The Mojo Men,
La Düsseldorf,
David Bowie,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ornette Coleman,
The Sound,
This Heat,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jacob Miller,
Sixth Finger,
Lyres,
Goldenarms,
T. Rex,
The Trojans,
Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker.
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.