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 Cameroon and from Copenhagen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 clarinet 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 Star Department to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Crime. All the underground hits.
All Sister Nancy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Moon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Hutcherson,
the Germs,
Cameo,
Unrelated Segments,
The Toasters,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Suburban Knight,
Barbara Tucker,
The Fortunes,
PIL,
Alice Coltrane,
The Black Dice,
The Young Rascals,
The Searchers,
The Saints,
Mary Jane Girls,
Jerry's Kids,
Arab on Radar,
The Smoke,
Bush Tetras,
Charles Mingus,
Index,
Scientists,
Ralphi Rosario,
Rufus Thomas,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Nas,
Black Sheep,
Dennis Brown,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Anakelly,
The Dead C,
Severed Heads,
The Leaves,
Albert Ayler,
Lou Reed,
The Electric Prunes,
Mark Hollis,
The United States of America,
Organ,
A Certain Ratio,
Bobby Byrd,
Joy Division,
Cecil Taylor,
X-Ray Spex,
Panda Bear,
Kerri Chandler,
Clear Light,
Vainqueur,
John Foxx,
Wally Richardson,
Carl Craig,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Altered Images,
The Offenders,
Sonic Youth,
The Invisible,
Man Parrish,
Donny Hathaway,
Simply Red,
Howard Jones,
Subhumans,
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode.
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.