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 Germany and from Woodstock.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Halifax 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 clarinet 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 Robert Görl to the grunge 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 Dorothy Ashby. All the underground hits.
All Rufus Thomas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dorothy Ashby record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Qualms record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Infiniti,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
AZ,
Frankie Knuckles,
Davy DMX,
The Victims,
CMW,
Jeff Mills,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Golliwogs,
New York Dolls,
The Vogues,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Sound,
One Last Wish,
LL Cool J,
Yusef Lateef,
Urselle,
Magazine,
Rufus Thomas,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lungfish,
Television Personalities,
The Techniques,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Detroit Cobras,
Jawbox,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
David McCallum,
Soulsonic Force,
Severed Heads,
The Invisible,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Beau Brummels,
Jandek,
Inner City,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Scratch Acid,
the Human League,
Tomorrow,
Soul II Soul,
Lee Hazlewood,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Hardrive,
Khruangbin,
Dual Sessions,
Kerri Chandler,
Eve St. Jones,
Harmonia,
Peter & Gordon,
Suicide,
Public Image Ltd.,
U.S. Maple,
Crispy Ambulance,
ABC,
Bad Manners,
Rhythm & Sound,
Flamin' Groovies,
the Association,
Quando Quango,
Johnny Clarke,
Bill Near,
The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks, The Alarm Clocks.
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.