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 Niger and from Shanghai.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Mary Jane Girls to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Marmalade. All the underground hits.
All Lucky Dragons tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeff Lynne record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lower 48 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Chris Corsano,
JFA,
Animal Collective,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Real Kids,
Man Parrish,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Eric B and Rakim,
Oblivians,
Boz Scaggs,
Black Flag,
Swans,
Das Ding,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dorothy Ashby,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ultravox,
The Stooges,
Malaria!,
Amon Düül,
Reagan Youth,
Underground Resistance,
Sam Rivers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Thompson Twins,
Junior Murvin,
DJ Sneak,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
K-Klass,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
E-Dancer,
Moebius,
the Soft Cell,
Nik Kershaw,
Soul II Soul,
Fela Kuti,
The Young Rascals,
Rites of Spring,
Y Pants,
X-102,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Albert Ayler,
Ornette Coleman,
Marc Almond,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Seeds,
Dawn Penn,
Zero Boys,
Jerry's Kids,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Gories,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Essential Logic,
Radio Birdman,
The Smoke,
Minutemen,
The Durutti Column,
Scientists, Scientists, Scientists, Scientists.
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.