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 Marshall Islands and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Manchester.
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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Newcleus to the crunk 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 Gerry Rafferty. All the underground hits.
All X-Ray Spex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
Wasted Youth,
Reuben Wilson,
Essential Logic,
Sexual Harrassment,
Soul Sonic Force,
Fatback Band,
Piero Umiliani,
T. Rex,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Jeru the Damaja,
Steve Hackett,
The Raincoats,
Model 500,
The Buckinghams,
Young Marble Giants,
Adolescents,
Gichy Dan,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Simply Red,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
the Soft Cell,
Neil Young,
Funky Four + One,
Lucky Dragons,
Faraquet,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ludus,
Fluxion,
Mary Jane Girls,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Fuzztones,
Freddie Wadling,
Black Bananas,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Slave,
The Mojo Men,
Hot Snakes,
LL Cool J,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Rufus Thomas,
Lalo Schifrin,
the Germs,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Crispian St. Peters,
Blake Baxter,
Altered Images,
Fat Boys,
Little Man,
Harmonia,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tropical Tobacco,
Thee Headcoats,
Scion,
Aswad,
James Chance & The Contortions,
48th St. Collective,
Country Joe & The Fish,
the Bar-Kays,
Fear,
MC5,
The Standells,
Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions, Dual Sessions.
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.