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 Burundi and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle show in London.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 arpeggiator 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 Moby Grape to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All Bad Manners tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a marimba and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
the Association,
The Gories,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ultimate Spinach,
Freddie Wadling,
David McCallum,
Cal Tjader,
Jacob Miller,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Connie Case,
Thompson Twins,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Cymande,
Funkadelic,
Albert Ayler,
Colin Newman,
Rapeman,
Visage,
Reuben Wilson,
Peter & Gordon,
The Red Krayola,
Suicide,
Joy Division,
Yaz,
Shuggie Otis,
Eve St. Jones,
Youth Brigade,
Tomorrow,
Animal Collective,
The Blackbyrds,
The Gap Band,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ultravox,
Technova,
Arcadia,
10cc,
Subhumans,
LL Cool J,
The Associates,
Rod Modell,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Organ,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Smiths,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Yellowson,
MC5,
Marshall Jefferson,
Juan Atkins,
Minny Pops,
Underground Resistance,
Nik Kershaw,
This Heat,
Cluster,
Quantec,
the Normal,
Talk Talk,
Jacques Brel,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Sun Ra,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.