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 East Timor and from Spokane.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 marimba 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 Skarface to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Max Romeo. All the underground hits.
All Stereo Dub tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every James Chance & The Contortions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 sitar and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tropical Tobacco record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Can,
Sarah Menescal,
Cal Tjader,
Moby Grape,
The Alarm Clocks,
Gang of Four,
Nik Kershaw,
Royal Trux,
Fela Kuti,
Thee Headcoats,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
ABC,
The Martian,
The Searchers,
Average White Band,
Juan Atkins,
Agent Orange,
Harmonia,
Kurtis Blow,
Crash Course in Science,
Tubeway Army,
The Angels of Light,
X-Ray Spex,
Trumans Water,
David Axelrod,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Henry Cow,
Wally Richardson,
Leonard Cohen,
The Names,
Suicide,
Pagans,
Tears for Fears,
Letta Mbulu,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Jacques Brel,
R.M.O.,
Radiohead,
Jeru the Damaja,
Erasure,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Divine Comedy,
Qualms,
Michelle Simonal,
Circle Jerks,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Zeros,
The Cramps,
Clear Light,
Ornette Coleman,
The Motions,
Blossom Toes,
Barry Ungar,
A Certain Ratio,
Brand Nubian,
Roger Hodgson,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sound Behaviour,
Isaac Hayes,
Wire,
Anthony Braxton,
The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans.
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.