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 Italy and from Edmonton.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Names to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Richard Hell and the Voidoids. All the underground hits.
All the Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fifty Foot Hose record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a U.S. Maple record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crash Course in Science,
Aural Exciters,
Quadrant,
Gang of Four,
The J.B.'s,
The United States of America,
Inner City,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Gun Club,
Arthur Verocai,
John Holt,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Masters at Work,
Pet Shop Boys,
Robert Wyatt,
The Buckinghams,
The Vogues,
The Slackers,
Gichy Dan,
Altered Images,
Nas,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Visage,
Bill Near,
Eden Ahbez,
Peter & Gordon,
The Leaves,
Brand Nubian,
Los Fastidios,
Quando Quango,
Harmonia,
The Young Rascals,
Boz Scaggs,
Eve St. Jones,
The Offenders,
Aaron Thompson,
Livin' Joy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Selecter,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Litter,
Procol Harum,
The Trojans,
The Kinks,
Amon Düül,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Banda Bassotti,
Brothers Johnson,
Peter and Kerry,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Donald Byrd,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Warsaw,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Standells,
Iggy Pop,
Crispy Ambulance,
Mandrill,
Charles Mingus,
A Flock of Seagulls,
the Human League,
Agent Orange,
Ken Boothe,
Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers, Sam Rivers.
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.