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 Venezuela and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 808 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 Quando Quango to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Animal Collective. All the underground hits.
All The Cramps tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Iggy Pop record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Barbara Tucker,
Niagra,
Lou Reed,
James White and The Blacks,
Drexciya,
Metal Thangz,
The Misunderstood,
The Angels of Light,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Surgeon,
Television,
The Doobie Brothers,
New York Dolls,
Mandrill,
Toni Rubio,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Shoche,
Pantaleimon,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Severed Heads,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Scrapy,
Black Moon,
Blossom Toes,
Mark Hollis,
Cecil Taylor,
Barrington Levy,
ABBA,
Glenn Branca,
Danielle Patucci,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Patti Smith,
Aloha Tigers,
Mary Jane Girls,
Ponytail,
Icehouse,
Infiniti,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Zapp,
Oblivians,
the Fania All-Stars,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Lungfish,
FM Einheit,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gichy Dan,
The Slits,
Kurtis Blow,
Arab on Radar,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Excepter,
Echospace,
Barry Ungar,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Arcadia,
Subhumans,
The Cure,
LL Cool J,
Swans, Swans, Swans, Swans.
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.