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 Iran and from Seoul.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The J.B.'s to the techno 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 Joey Negro. All the underground hits.
All Lou Christie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ten City 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 an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
PIL,
Jeff Lynne,
Reuben Wilson,
Erasure,
Funky Four + One,
Rites of Spring,
Jandek,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Soul II Soul,
The New Christs,
DJ Style,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
KRS-One,
Wings,
UT,
Pulsallama,
The Beau Brummels,
The Mummies,
Faraquet,
Barbara Tucker,
The Toasters,
Pagans,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Pop Group,
Absolute Body Control,
Anthony Braxton,
Susan Cadogan,
The Walker Brothers,
The Fuzztones,
Arab on Radar,
Brass Construction,
John Coltrane,
Angry Samoans,
Eve St. Jones,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Doors,
New Order,
AZ,
Con Funk Shun,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Nirvana,
Quantec,
The Blackbyrds,
Negative Approach,
Sällskapet,
The Slackers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Subhumans,
Theoretical Girls,
Bauhaus,
Skriet,
The Angels of Light,
Unwound,
Gabor Szabo,
Q and Not U,
Reagan Youth,
The Slits,
JFA,
Urselle,
Skarface,
Fort Wilson Riot,
the Bar-Kays,
Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer, Second Layer.
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.