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 Mali and from Jakarta.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Hardrive to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Man Parrish. All the underground hits.
All DJ Sneak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Clarke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Saints,
Roxette,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Robert Wyatt,
B.T. Express,
Whodini,
Aswad,
Jandek,
The Slackers,
Swell Maps,
Lebanon Hanover,
Cheater Slicks,
Dawn Penn,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Schoolly D,
Ultimate Spinach,
LL Cool J,
Essential Logic,
David Bowie,
Swans,
The Fire Engines,
Arcadia,
The Sound,
Piero Umiliani,
Alton Ellis,
Hot Snakes,
Porter Ricks,
48th St. Collective,
Fugazi,
The Smoke,
The Walker Brothers,
The Motions,
Kerri Chandler,
Mad Mike,
Harmonia,
Popol Vuh,
The Residents,
New Order,
Deakin,
The Monks,
Scientists,
Sällskapet,
Dual Sessions,
Tommy Roe,
Mr. Review,
Eve St. Jones,
The Red Krayola,
Amon Düül,
Con Funk Shun,
Section 25,
Severed Heads,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Searchers,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Agent Orange,
Rod Modell,
Marcia Griffiths,
Sound Behaviour,
the Slits,
Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Sherman.
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.