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 Djibouti and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Flesh Eaters to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Victims. All the underground hits.
All 8 Eyed Spy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rekid record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Tom Boy,
Suburban Knight,
Juan Atkins,
Cameo,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Fear,
Howard Jones,
Grauzone,
the Sonics,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
D'Angelo,
Monks,
Kerri Chandler,
Althea and Donna,
Leonard Cohen,
ABBA,
Brothers Johnson,
Minnie Riperton,
John Foxx,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Jandek,
Adolescents,
Graham Central Station,
China Crisis,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Godley & Creme,
The J.B.'s,
Maleditus Sound,
Pharoah Sanders,
Banda Bassotti,
Connie Case,
Parry Music,
Cal Tjader,
Essential Logic,
MC5,
The Count Five,
Terry Callier,
Patti Smith,
The Trojans,
John Coltrane,
Darondo,
The Monks,
The Five Americans,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Skaos,
Deadbeat,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gichy Dan,
Lightning Bolt,
Underground Resistance,
Gang Starr,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Aswad,
H. Thieme,
Letta Mbulu,
Scion,
In Retrospect,
Yusef Lateef,
Main Source,
Eric Dolphy,
Ossler, Ossler, Ossler, Ossler.
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.