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 Yemen and from Tokyo.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 spring reverb 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 Anthony Braxton to the rock 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 Gang Green. All the underground hits.
All Loose Ends tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator 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 sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Minnie Riperton,
The Trojans,
Joe Smooth,
Pylon,
MC5,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Nirvana,
Q and Not U,
the Association,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Archie Shepp,
Hasil Adkins,
Ponytail,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Neu!,
Livin' Joy,
Flamin' Groovies,
Marcia Griffiths,
Johnny Osbourne,
Andrew Hill,
Wings,
Sex Pistols,
Faust,
Moss Icon,
Henry Cow,
The Move,
PIL,
Johnny Clarke,
The Pretty Things,
Eli Mardock,
The Invisible,
Unwound,
Scan 7,
Silicon Teens,
Dave Gahan,
The Index,
Gang Green,
Bill Near,
The Smiths,
Gregory Isaacs,
Electric Prunes,
Alton Ellis,
Urselle,
David Axelrod,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Accadde A,
the Swans,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Connie Case,
Sight & Sound,
Camouflage,
Max Romeo,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Y Pants,
Aloha Tigers,
Roy Ayers,
Dead Boys,
Mo-Dettes,
Davy DMX,
Derrick May,
The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers, The Slackers.
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.