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 Malta 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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the snare 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 Guru Guru to the techno 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 John Holt. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The American Breed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Porter Ricks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Crispian St. Peters,
Marmalade,
Sonic Youth,
Sparks,
Blossom Toes,
Bizarre Inc.,
a-ha,
The Misunderstood,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Pet Shop Boys,
Groovy Waters,
The Electric Prunes,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Motorama,
Tropical Tobacco,
Erasure,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Scratch Acid,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Spandau Ballet,
Ten City,
Franke,
The Slackers,
Popol Vuh,
X-Ray Spex,
The Velvet Underground,
Barry Ungar,
Frankie Knuckles,
Nirvana,
Gastr Del Sol,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ultravox,
Mad Mike,
Man Parrish,
Metal Thangz,
AZ,
Delon & Dalcan,
A Certain Ratio,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Lindisfarne,
Deakin,
Soul II Soul,
Quadrant,
48th St. Collective,
Alton Ellis,
Ituana,
Chris & Cosey,
L. Decosne,
Brick,
Visage,
Reuben Wilson,
Slick Rick,
Mission of Burma,
Japan,
Fat Boys,
The Alarm Clocks,
Make Up, Make Up, Make Up, Make Up.
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.