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 Jamaica 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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 The Toasters to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Circle Jerks. All the underground hits.
All Kool Moe Dee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cameo 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Popol Vuh record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tubeway Army,
Marcia Griffiths,
Archie Shepp,
Althea and Donna,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Wolf Eyes,
OOIOO,
Gang Gang Dance,
Steve Hackett,
Piero Umiliani,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
MDC,
Skarface,
Fad Gadget,
Grauzone,
Liliput,
Barry Ungar,
FM Einheit,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Slits,
The Happenings,
the Bar-Kays,
Pere Ubu,
The Sound,
Crispian St. Peters,
Excepter,
The Move,
Patti Smith,
Boz Scaggs,
Gabor Szabo,
Accadde A,
Crime,
Yusef Lateef,
Barbara Tucker,
The Kinks,
Cal Tjader,
E-Dancer,
The Searchers,
Warren Ellis,
Boogie Down Productions,
Hashim,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Aaron Thompson,
Anakelly,
Byron Stingily,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Ralphi Rosario,
Howard Jones,
Eurythmics,
Ultravox,
Ultimate Spinach,
Eli Mardock,
The Neon Judgement,
The Black Dice,
the Slits,
Blake Baxter,
The Remains,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Music Machine,
Lou Reed,
The Blues Magoos,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.