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 Benin and from Philadelphia.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Talk Talk to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Birthday Party. All the underground hits.
All Unwound tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every World's Most record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 a linndrum and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gong record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Invisible,
Television Personalities,
Rufus Thomas,
Scientists,
Aloha Tigers,
Royal Trux,
ABC,
Scrapy,
Pantytec,
Ohio Players,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Faraquet,
Kenny Larkin,
Nick Fraelich,
Radiopuhelimet,
Oblivians,
the Sonics,
Marmalade,
Deepchord,
the Slits,
Cameo,
Goldenarms,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Tommy Roe,
Colin Newman,
Agitation Free,
Al Stewart,
Minnie Riperton,
The Black Dice,
Absolute Body Control,
The Modern Lovers,
The Fuzztones,
Joy Division,
Boogie Down Productions,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Black Pus,
John Lydon,
Pole,
Sex Pistols,
Rapeman,
Rod Modell,
Make Up,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Cramps,
H. Thieme,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
New York Dolls,
Main Source,
Animal Collective,
Sugar Minott,
Eddi Front,
Warren Ellis,
Public Image Ltd.,
Clear Light,
The Alarm Clocks,
Jeff Mills,
Section 25,
Pagans,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.