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 Egypt 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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Agent Orange to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Flesh Eaters. All the underground hits.
All Flamin' Groovies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fifty Foot Hose record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barry Ungar record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mad Mike,
The Standells,
The Cure,
Scratch Acid,
Ralphi Rosario,
Reagan Youth,
The Red Krayola,
Basic Channel,
Funkadelic,
Television,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Alphaville,
the Normal,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Todd Rundgren,
Dave Gahan,
Jacob Miller,
Khruangbin,
Flipper,
Pussy Galore,
Mr. Review,
Rotary Connection,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Mandrill,
The Raincoats,
Von Mondo,
Harpers Bizarre,
Ultra Naté,
Joey Negro,
Lower 48,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Zapp,
Angry Samoans,
Tim Buckley,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Deakin,
Althea and Donna,
Soft Cell,
Pere Ubu,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Magma,
Godley & Creme,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Real Kids,
Duran Duran,
These Immortal Souls,
Sugar Minott,
Alice Coltrane,
Hot Snakes,
Sight & Sound,
The J.B.'s,
Ronnie Foster,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Laurel Aitken,
Sexual Harrassment,
Arcadia,
Frankie Knuckles,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Music Machine,
Freddie Wadling,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest, Barclay James Harvest.
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.