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 Syria and from Columbus.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Grandmaster Flash to the techno 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 The Monks. All the underground hits.
All Lalann tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grey Daturas 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gabor Szabo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
Delon & Dalcan,
K-Klass,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Sarah Menescal,
Can,
The Names,
Fear,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
the Swans,
Angry Samoans,
Aloha Tigers,
Howard Jones,
Tears for Fears,
Ralphi Rosario,
Lindisfarne,
Toni Rubio,
Mark Hollis,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Camouflage,
Roxette,
Albert Ayler,
Jacques Brel,
Lower 48,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Barrington Levy,
Swell Maps,
Ponytail,
Faraquet,
Lakeside,
In Retrospect,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Sixth Finger,
The Moleskins,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Hasil Adkins,
Negative Approach,
La Düsseldorf,
the Fania All-Stars,
Young Marble Giants,
Public Image Ltd.,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Moby Grape,
Blake Baxter,
The Human League,
The Moody Blues,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Smoke,
Average White Band,
Loose Ends,
JFA,
Oblivians,
Au Pairs,
Pagans,
Tubeway Army,
The Mummies,
the Human League,
The Doors,
Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy.
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.