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 Zambia and from Toronto.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the theremin 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 Throbbing Gristle to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Absolute Body Control. All the underground hits.
All James White and The Blacks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Graham Central Station record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nation of Ulysses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bill Wells,
Soft Cell,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Remains,
Average White Band,
Sight & Sound,
Traffic Nightmare,
Dennis Brown,
Black Pus,
Byron Stingily,
The Flesh Eaters,
the Bar-Kays,
Derrick Morgan,
Joensuu 1685,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Seeds,
Neil Young,
Ponytail,
Ornette Coleman,
Neu!,
Sun Ra,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Divine Comedy,
R.M.O.,
Franke,
Laurel Aitken,
David Axelrod,
Flipper,
Josef K,
Carl Craig,
Q and Not U,
Ludus,
Marmalade,
Swans,
Fear,
Crime,
Half Japanese,
Gastr Del Sol,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Sun City Girls,
Bizarre Inc.,
Glenn Branca,
Young Marble Giants,
Magazine,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Searchers,
Radiohead,
Royal Trux,
The Birthday Party,
Charles Mingus,
Loose Ends,
Donald Byrd,
Das Ding,
Agitation Free,
June of 44,
June Days,
Todd Terry,
Delta 5,
Ultra Naté,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Boogie Down Productions,
Lyres, Lyres, Lyres, Lyres.
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.