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 Vietnam and from Edmonton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 guitar 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 The Zeros to the electroclash 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 Surgeon. All the underground hits.
All Fifty Foot Hose tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Young Rascals 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Association record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
Severed Heads,
David Axelrod,
Jeff Mills,
Johnny Clarke,
Zero Boys,
Shuggie Otis,
Angry Samoans,
Kenny Larkin,
The Zeros,
The Selecter,
The Smoke,
The Last Poets,
Althea and Donna,
Lungfish,
John Cale,
Inner City,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
China Crisis,
Faraquet,
Gil Scott Heron,
Rod Modell,
Avey Tare,
Bang On A Can,
Fela Kuti,
Sparks,
Schoolly D,
The Residents,
Sly & The Family Stone,
In Retrospect,
X-Ray Spex,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
James White and The Blacks,
Von Mondo,
The Dave Clark Five,
Fat Boys,
The Monks,
Skaos,
the Fania All-Stars,
Pet Shop Boys,
Laurel Aitken,
Barbara Tucker,
Duran Duran,
Blossom Toes,
Neu!,
The United States of America,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
World's Most,
Danielle Patucci,
Stereo Dub,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Martian,
Marvin Gaye,
Simply Red,
Chris Corsano,
Black Flag,
Siglo XX,
Sexual Harrassment,
Blancmange,
The Gladiators,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.