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 Angola and from Mumbai.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Anakelly to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All Mantronix tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & John Cale 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Letta Mbulu record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drive Like Jehu,
the Swans,
Kool Moe Dee,
Sandy B,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Fluxion,
D'Angelo,
The Count Five,
Nirvana,
Panda Bear,
Steve Hackett,
The Black Dice,
Can,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sällskapet,
Erykah Badu,
In Retrospect,
Camouflage,
Metal Thangz,
The Monochrome Set,
The Dead C,
Radio Birdman,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
John Coltrane,
The American Breed,
the Normal,
Mr. Review,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Cabaret Voltaire,
OOIOO,
Make Up,
Minor Threat,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Moby Grape,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Star Department,
Sonic Youth,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Drexciya,
The New Christs,
Marine Girls,
Rapeman,
The Martian,
The Neon Judgement,
Kurtis Blow,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Popol Vuh,
New Order,
Tropical Tobacco,
Liliput,
Minutemen,
Delta 5,
Bill Wells,
H. Thieme,
E-Dancer,
Black Sheep,
Sixth Finger,
Rod Modell,
Patti Smith,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.