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 Burundi and from Philadelphia.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Stockholm.
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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the 808 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 Lalann to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Idris Muhammad. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & Metallica tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fugs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Starr,
Popol Vuh,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Traffic Nightmare,
Boz Scaggs,
Black Bananas,
Tom Boy,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Fear,
Dawn Penn,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kerri Chandler,
Subhumans,
Ultravox,
Guru Guru,
Minutemen,
Cal Tjader,
Gil Scott Heron,
Alphaville,
Niagra,
Franke,
Pantaleimon,
Smog,
Amon Düül,
Saccharine Trust,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Angels of Light,
Khruangbin,
Stiv Bators,
the Fania All-Stars,
Cybotron,
Blossom Toes,
Tears for Fears,
This Heat,
Swans,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Scientists,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Letta Mbulu,
The Raincoats,
Gang of Four,
Deepchord,
The Selecter,
Radiohead,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Robert Hood,
Bootsy Collins,
Eric Dolphy,
The Star Department,
Visage,
EPMD,
Jeff Mills,
Albert Ayler,
The Red Krayola,
Jawbox,
June Days,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
PIL, PIL, PIL, PIL.
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.