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 Yemen and from Sao Paulo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965.
I was there at the first Beefheart show in Lancaster.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 chamberlin 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 Quando Quango to the grunge 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 Erykah Badu. All the underground hits.
All Traffic Nightmare tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bizarre Inc.,
Ossler,
Oneida,
Fugazi,
Ralphi Rosario,
Bluetip,
Massinfluence,
Yazoo,
Minutemen,
John Coltrane,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Lower 48,
Qualms,
The Grass Roots,
Cal Tjader,
Monks,
Black Sheep,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Tremeloes,
X-Ray Spex,
Fatback Band,
Laurel Aitken,
the Normal,
Brothers Johnson,
The Last Poets,
B.T. Express,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Roxy Music,
Kenny Larkin,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Eric B and Rakim,
Nick Fraelich,
The Standells,
Public Image Ltd.,
John Lydon,
Excepter,
ABBA,
Ice-T,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Lindisfarne,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Godley & Creme,
Marshall Jefferson,
Dead Boys,
The United States of America,
Warren Ellis,
Television,
Sonic Youth,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Move,
The Mojo Men,
Nas,
Johnny Osbourne,
Shoche,
Easy Going,
Ken Boothe,
Mary Jane Girls,
Magma, Magma, Magma, Magma.
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.