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 Madagascar and from Shanghai.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Johannesburg.
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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Scientists. All the underground hits.
All Dorothy Ashby tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cure record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kool Moe Dee record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marmalade,
The Detroit Cobras,
Archie Shepp,
The Trojans,
Kerri Chandler,
The Sonics,
Scrapy,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Metal Thangz,
John Cale,
Main Source,
Unwound,
Pere Ubu,
Supertramp,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Motorama,
Rhythm & Sound,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Mighty Diamonds,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Crime,
Underground Resistance,
Ultra Naté,
Can,
Fad Gadget,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Joe Smooth,
Magma,
Boogie Down Productions,
Frankie Knuckles,
Chrome,
Soft Machine,
The Blues Magoos,
Curtis Mayfield,
Delta 5,
Masters at Work,
Marine Girls,
Tim Buckley,
Skarface,
The Pretty Things,
Bauhaus,
Blancmange,
UT,
The Leaves,
Aswad,
David Bowie,
Cybotron,
Eddi Front,
The Dave Clark Five,
Wolf Eyes,
These Immortal Souls,
the Bar-Kays,
a-ha,
Mary Jane Girls,
Toni Rubio,
Sugar Minott,
Animal Collective,
Colin Newman,
Jerry's Kids,
Deadbeat,
Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth, Man Eating Sloth.
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.