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 Lesotho and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the snare 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 Mantronix to the disco 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 the Germs. All the underground hits.
All Japan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Trojans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pylon,
Mantronix,
Bizarre Inc.,
Angry Samoans,
Saccharine Trust,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Laurel Aitken,
Crispian St. Peters,
Sight & Sound,
Supertramp,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Colin Newman,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
UT,
The Martian,
The Mighty Diamonds,
China Crisis,
Bronski Beat,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Pagans,
The J.B.'s,
Quadrant,
Max Romeo,
Bobby Byrd,
John Coltrane,
Ponytail,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Gang Gang Dance,
Susan Cadogan,
Harry Pussy,
The Red Krayola,
Index,
Morten Harket,
Thee Headcoats,
Cameo,
Aaron Thompson,
The Real Kids,
Radiohead,
A Certain Ratio,
the Germs,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Rites of Spring,
Rufus Thomas,
Malaria!,
Barclay James Harvest,
Sonic Youth,
Stockholm Monsters,
Avey Tare,
The Stooges,
Lalann,
Television,
B.T. Express,
Mad Mike,
Neil Young,
Rhythm & Sound,
Hashim,
Flipper,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Neu!,
the Slits, the Slits, the Slits, the Slits.
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.