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 Tonga and from Mumbai.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 sitar 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 Alison Limerick to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Ten City. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Fania All-Stars 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gian Franco Pienzio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erasure,
Wings,
Ponytail,
Bad Manners,
Jandek,
Television,
The Monochrome Set,
The Pretty Things,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Count Five,
Slave,
Lucky Dragons,
Kool Moe Dee,
Youth Brigade,
The Fall,
Davy DMX,
June of 44,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Byron Stingily,
Ultravox,
Reuben Wilson,
Agitation Free,
The Star Department,
The Fire Engines,
The Happenings,
Bobby Sherman,
Drexciya,
Technova,
Scratch Acid,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Marcia Griffiths,
John Cale,
The Saints,
Cheater Slicks,
The Kinks,
Derrick May,
Flipper,
The Sound,
T.S.O.L.,
Tom Boy,
Television Personalities,
Sonny Sharrock,
Rosa Yemen,
Angry Samoans,
Jesper Dahlback,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Red Krayola,
Peter and Kerry,
Drive Like Jehu,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Hot Snakes,
Iggy Pop,
Frankie Knuckles,
Pussy Galore,
The Shadows of Knight,
Junior Murvin,
Marc Almond,
Goldenarms,
Flash Fearless,
Dave Gahan,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.