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 Belize and from Tokyo.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Johannesburg.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Sonics to the funk 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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All U.S. Maple tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Parry Music record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joe Finger record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The New Christs,
Faraquet,
Ultravox,
Bob Dylan,
Sonny Sharrock,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Slits,
Fugazi,
Ice-T,
Man Parrish,
Newcleus,
This Heat,
Jacob Miller,
Ronnie Foster,
Yazoo,
Youth Brigade,
The Invisible,
Kayak,
Oneida,
The Cramps,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sixth Finger,
H. Thieme,
Fatback Band,
Niagra,
Agent Orange,
The Index,
Lebanon Hanover,
Jeff Lynne,
Zero Boys,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Sällskapet,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Derrick Morgan,
Subhumans,
Kerri Chandler,
The Misunderstood,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Angels of Light,
Ralphi Rosario,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Dave Gahan,
Mr. Review,
The Knickerbockers,
Matthew Halsall,
Mars,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Gong,
Glambeats Corp.,
Idris Muhammad,
DJ Sneak,
Matthew Bourne,
Banda Bassotti,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Pylon,
Moss Icon,
Icehouse,
Delta 5,
Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe.
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.