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 Yemen and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 In Retrospect to the crunk 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 Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Eli Mardock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tommy Roe 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grauzone record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Q and Not U,
Pere Ubu,
The Skatalites,
The Mummies,
Tomorrow,
Fugazi,
Malaria!,
Reuben Wilson,
Gang Green,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Buckinghams,
Interpol,
Urselle,
Yusef Lateef,
Oneida,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Mandrill,
ABBA,
Alphaville,
Tubeway Army,
Wolf Eyes,
Mission of Burma,
John Cale,
Fatback Band,
Susan Cadogan,
Chris & Cosey,
The Electric Prunes,
The Misunderstood,
Erykah Badu,
Siglo XX,
John Coltrane,
Quantec,
Metal Thangz,
Black Moon,
Sixth Finger,
Au Pairs,
Desert Stars,
The United States of America,
Stockholm Monsters,
Todd Terry,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Man Eating Sloth,
Drive Like Jehu,
Rakim,
The Blackbyrds,
Hashim,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Gang of Four,
Vainqueur,
Derrick May,
The Detroit Cobras,
Lou Reed,
The Gap Band,
the Association,
Lucky Dragons,
Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd.
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.