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 Solomon Islands and from Portland.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Birthday Party to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lee Hazlewood. All the underground hits.
All Wolf Eyes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pussy Galore record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Infiniti,
Alton Ellis,
The Stooges,
Robert Hood,
The Victims,
Minor Threat,
Slave,
Masters at Work,
The Fuzztones,
Laurel Aitken,
Mantronix,
The Real Kids,
Black Pus,
Gichy Dan,
The Gap Band,
Johnny Clarke,
Leonard Cohen,
Organ,
Blossom Toes,
Spoonie Gee,
Thompson Twins,
Nirvana,
EPMD,
Arab on Radar,
Pulsallama,
Graham Central Station,
The Associates,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Vladislav Delay,
The Walker Brothers,
Brass Construction,
Television Personalities,
Pylon,
Schoolly D,
K-Klass,
Goldenarms,
Sandy B,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Bauhaus,
Amon Düül II,
DJ Style,
Agitation Free,
Tim Buckley,
The Cowsills,
John Lydon,
Joe Finger,
Wally Richardson,
The Moleskins,
Guru Guru,
Josef K,
The Fall,
The Golliwogs,
Groovy Waters,
Camouflage,
Public Image Ltd.,
Donald Byrd,
Ponytail,
Fad Gadget,
The Motions,
Charles Mingus,
Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia, Harmonia.
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.