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 Rwanda and from Taipei.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Graham Central Station to the techno 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 Country Joe & The Fish. All the underground hits.
All X-101 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Wake 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a June of 44 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
Can,
Soul Sonic Force,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Cameo,
Bobby Sherman,
Jeru the Damaja,
Minnie Riperton,
Erasure,
Rakim,
New Age Steppers,
Curtis Mayfield,
Barrington Levy,
The Cowsills,
Amazonics,
Roxy Music,
Black Pus,
The Cure,
Sex Pistols,
Sugar Minott,
Dennis Brown,
DJ Sneak,
The Sound,
Chris & Cosey,
Jeff Lynne,
Youth Brigade,
The Evens,
The Move,
Angry Samoans,
Moss Icon,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Public Enemy,
OOIOO,
Trumans Water,
B.T. Express,
Tropical Tobacco,
Lou Reed,
Traffic Nightmare,
ABC,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Searchers,
Groovy Waters,
The Standells,
Pantaleimon,
Ornette Coleman,
Basic Channel,
10cc,
Swell Maps,
Newcleus,
Ultra Naté,
Joensuu 1685,
Ponytail,
Rites of Spring,
One Last Wish,
Neil Young,
The Index,
In Retrospect,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kaleidoscope,
The Slits, The Slits, The Slits, The Slits.
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.