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 Guyana and from Jakarta.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 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 The Cosmic Jokers to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 The Dead C. All the underground hits.
All Thee Headcoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Chocolate Watch Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Stiv Bators,
Au Pairs,
Sarah Menescal,
Grauzone,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Knickerbockers,
Yaz,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Archie Shepp,
Judy Mowatt,
Basic Channel,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Roy Ayers,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Scan 7,
Electric Light Orchestra,
the Sonics,
Kool Moe Dee,
Danielle Patucci,
In Retrospect,
The Moody Blues,
The Modern Lovers,
The Fuzztones,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Vladislav Delay,
Kurtis Blow,
Tropical Tobacco,
New Order,
Stockholm Monsters,
Black Flag,
Sonny Sharrock,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Dark Day,
Barry Ungar,
Man Eating Sloth,
Interpol,
Sparks,
The Wake,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Eden Ahbez,
The Busters,
Lightning Bolt,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Althea and Donna,
Eve St. Jones,
Cluster,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Joey Negro,
Eurythmics,
Wasted Youth,
Y Pants,
Barbara Tucker,
Dorothy Ashby,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Schoolly D,
Cybotron,
Easy Going,
The Young Rascals,
Marshall Jefferson,
Donny Hathaway,
The Alarm Clocks,
Oblivians,
Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke.
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.