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 New Zealand 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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 clarinet 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 The Modern Lovers to the dance 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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Lindisfarne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Depeche Mode record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sugar Minott record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum 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 Remains,
Patti Smith,
the Sonics,
The Doobie Brothers,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Ronnie Foster,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
cv313,
Excepter,
Jawbox,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lebanon Hanover,
Oblivians,
Mandrill,
Easy Going,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Black Pus,
Mary Jane Girls,
Archie Shepp,
The Techniques,
Marvin Gaye,
Visage,
Dennis Brown,
Slave,
Max Romeo,
the Slits,
Lou Reed,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
PIL,
The Index,
Aswad,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Minutemen,
The Tremeloes,
Terrestrial Tones,
Animal Collective,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
48th St. Collective,
Juan Atkins,
Moss Icon,
Hashim,
Lakeside,
Gabor Szabo,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Vogues,
The Stooges,
Altered Images,
The Fugs,
Vladislav Delay,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Technova,
Saccharine Trust,
Eurythmics,
Popol Vuh,
Theoretical Girls,
Icehouse,
The Moody Blues,
John Holt,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kaleidoscope,
Circle Jerks,
The Martian,
Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur, Vainqueur.
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.