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 Liechtenstein and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Mr. Review to the crunk 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 Albert Ayler. All the underground hits.
All the Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mighty Diamonds 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barrington Levy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mission of Burma,
Aswad,
Tom Boy,
Kaleidoscope,
Anakelly,
Rod Modell,
Barry Ungar,
Brothers Johnson,
Bobby Sherman,
Arcadia,
Pierre Henry,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Toasters,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Offenders,
Barbara Tucker,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Janne Schatter,
Terry Callier,
The J.B.'s,
Dennis Brown,
Joy Division,
AZ,
Sun City Girls,
Siglo XX,
Kayak,
Crispy Ambulance,
Crooked Eye,
David McCallum,
Reuben Wilson,
Ornette Coleman,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Livin' Joy,
Depeche Mode,
The Gladiators,
Sonic Youth,
The Pop Group,
Grey Daturas,
DJ Sneak,
Idris Muhammad,
The Velvet Underground,
Ludus,
Kurtis Blow,
cv313,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Zeros,
Von Mondo,
Lungfish,
X-102,
Cabaret Voltaire,
B.T. Express,
Roxette,
The Durutti Column,
Duran Duran,
Ultra Naté,
Moby Grape,
Groovy Waters,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Nirvana,
Gang Starr,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.