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 Nepal and from Hong Kong.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 mellotron 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 KRS-One to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Lonnie Liston Smith. All the underground hits.
All Erasure tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Althea and Donna record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Danielle Patucci record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül,
Harpers Bizarre,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Banda Bassotti,
Gastr Del Sol,
Country Teasers,
The Dirtbombs,
The Saints,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Blackbyrds,
Television,
The Misunderstood,
Rosa Yemen,
Newcleus,
Cluster,
Kevin Saunderson,
Derrick May,
Carl Craig,
Bush Tetras,
The Detroit Cobras,
Colin Newman,
New Age Steppers,
U.S. Maple,
Theoretical Girls,
The Motions,
Soft Cell,
Cecil Taylor,
Faust,
Leonard Cohen,
Bob Dylan,
Audionom,
The Divine Comedy,
Ohio Players,
Cal Tjader,
The Cure,
The Litter,
Nation of Ulysses,
Technova,
Thompson Twins,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Aural Exciters,
Saccharine Trust,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Flesh Eaters,
June of 44,
Monolake,
The Leaves,
Roxette,
Kayak,
Tommy Roe,
The Modern Lovers,
Fad Gadget,
Blossom Toes,
The Skatalites,
Bill Near,
Yusef Lateef,
Talk Talk,
Dawn Penn,
Sun City Girls,
Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily, Byron Stingily.
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.