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 South Sudan and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 These Immortal Souls to the rap 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 Fifty Foot Hose. All the underground hits.
All T.S.O.L. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Subhumans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Misunderstood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nirvana,
The Fugs,
Carl Craig,
Laurel Aitken,
Donald Byrd,
Agent Orange,
The Names,
The Gories,
Sex Pistols,
Parry Music,
Glenn Branca,
John Foxx,
The Litter,
Eric Dolphy,
The Wake,
Don Cherry,
Sam Rivers,
Excepter,
Grey Daturas,
Massinfluence,
Schoolly D,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Brand Nubian,
Joe Smooth,
Animal Collective,
Scion,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Jandek,
the Slits,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Absolute Body Control,
Grandmaster Flash,
Infiniti,
Mary Jane Girls,
Mandrill,
Livin' Joy,
The Misunderstood,
The Motions,
Tom Boy,
Howard Jones,
Moss Icon,
The Barracudas,
Aaron Thompson,
Joey Negro,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Camberwell Now,
Severed Heads,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
EPMD,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Black Pus,
Marine Girls,
Hasil Adkins,
Ultravox,
Circle Jerks,
Television,
The Fuzztones,
Eric Copeland,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Hashim,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.