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 Sudan and from Mexico City.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Minor Threat to the grime 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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All Public Enemy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fugazi record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Max Romeo record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Connie Case,
Radiohead,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Mojo Men,
Gang of Four,
Amon Düül II,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Echospace,
Crispian St. Peters,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Mandrill,
the Association,
Basic Channel,
Lightning Bolt,
Funkadelic,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Eli Mardock,
One Last Wish,
Fear,
Cameo,
Maurizio,
Byron Stingily,
Von Mondo,
The Motions,
UT,
Drexciya,
Section 25,
Lalann,
The Saints,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
This Heat,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Darondo,
Lyres,
Scan 7,
Outsiders,
T.S.O.L.,
Boredoms,
Excepter,
The Blackbyrds,
The American Breed,
Howard Jones,
Y Pants,
Severed Heads,
Kerri Chandler,
Thompson Twins,
Parry Music,
Banda Bassotti,
The Evens,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Icehouse,
Kurtis Blow,
a-ha,
the Bar-Kays,
Dawn Penn,
Can,
Black Sheep,
the Sonics,
The Red Krayola,
Nik Kershaw,
The Wake, The Wake, The Wake, The Wake.
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.