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 Ghana and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Duran Duran to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Wally Richardson. All the underground hits.
All Warren Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Loose Ends record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
One Last Wish,
Lungfish,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Todd Terry,
Bob Dylan,
Soft Cell,
Bobby Byrd,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Henry Cow,
Joe Finger,
Tomorrow,
Marshall Jefferson,
UT,
Banda Bassotti,
The Mojo Men,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Sight & Sound,
Marmalade,
The Seeds,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Stereo Dub,
Sam Rivers,
Anthony Braxton,
The Sound,
Agitation Free,
Flash Fearless,
Letta Mbulu,
Mandrill,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Last Poets,
Gang of Four,
Sex Pistols,
The Fuzztones,
Mark Hollis,
Cameo,
Toni Rubio,
Howard Jones,
The Blues Magoos,
Eden Ahbez,
Marc Almond,
Average White Band,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Litter,
Theoretical Girls,
Robert Wyatt,
Rhythm & Sound,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Nick Fraelich,
Fela Kuti,
Lalann,
the Germs,
The Beau Brummels,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Scientists,
The Cure,
Minny Pops,
Reuben Wilson,
Soft Machine,
Moby Grape,
Young Marble Giants,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.