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 Sweden and from Tehran.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the snare 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 Minutemen to the techno 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 Sight & Sound. All the underground hits.
All Public Image Ltd. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scientists 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Procol Harum record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Arcadia,
New York Dolls,
Young Marble Giants,
Joensuu 1685,
Negative Approach,
Dorothy Ashby,
Sister Nancy,
Boogie Down Productions,
Alice Coltrane,
The Angels of Light,
Patti Smith,
Au Pairs,
The Red Krayola,
Quantec,
The Raincoats,
Mission of Burma,
Carl Craig,
Lalo Schifrin,
Erasure,
Aural Exciters,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Flash Fearless,
MC5,
Sonic Youth,
Black Pus,
Bizarre Inc.,
PIL,
Laurel Aitken,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Cameo,
Lightning Bolt,
Agent Orange,
Silicon Teens,
The Barracudas,
Zero Boys,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Henry Cow,
Parry Music,
Popol Vuh,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Avey Tare,
One Last Wish,
Gichy Dan,
Graham Central Station,
Camberwell Now,
Spoonie Gee,
Faust,
Ponytail,
Con Funk Shun,
the Swans,
Robert Hood,
The Mummies,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Eli Mardock,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Move,
Cluster,
X-102,
Cymande,
Ossler,
Stetsasonic,
Minutemen,
Wire,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.