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 Senegal and from Sao Paulo.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Popol Vuh to the grime 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All Icehouse tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every H. Thieme record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a AZ record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fire Engines,
The Monochrome Set,
The Monks,
Jeff Mills,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Wings,
Hardrive,
The Skatalites,
Unrelated Segments,
Traffic Nightmare,
Pantaleimon,
Circle Jerks,
Cal Tjader,
L. Decosne,
The Modern Lovers,
Black Moon,
Crispian St. Peters,
Moby Grape,
Danielle Patucci,
Lower 48,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
One Last Wish,
CMW,
Andrew Hill,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
the Normal,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Minnie Riperton,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Moleskins,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Lucky Dragons,
The Dirtbombs,
Cybotron,
Scratch Acid,
The Last Poets,
The Mummies,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Public Enemy,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Gang Green,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Malaria!,
The Music Machine,
Sandy B,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ken Boothe,
Tommy Roe,
Al Stewart,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Electric Prunes,
Popol Vuh,
David McCallum,
Brothers Johnson,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Second Layer,
Qualms,
Nick Fraelich,
Eurythmics,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Spoonie Gee,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.