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 Mongolia and from Philadelphia.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 the Human League to the rock 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 Glambeats Corp.. All the underground hits.
All Strawberry Alarm Clock tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marmalade 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hasil Adkins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Birthday Party,
Faraquet,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Newcleus,
Bronski Beat,
Essential Logic,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Michelle Simonal,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Saccharine Trust,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Rekid,
Minutemen,
Qualms,
Minny Pops,
Barclay James Harvest,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Victims,
The Alarm Clocks,
Joe Smooth,
Lindisfarne,
Joey Negro,
Pantaleimon,
Sonny Sharrock,
Fatback Band,
Johnny Osbourne,
the Slits,
K-Klass,
Toni Rubio,
The Leaves,
Freddie Wadling,
MC5,
Brass Construction,
The Remains,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Stockholm Monsters,
Eli Mardock,
Lightning Bolt,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Tres Demented,
Wasted Youth,
Mantronix,
Byron Stingily,
The Beau Brummels,
Crispian St. Peters,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Subhumans,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Roy Ayers,
EPMD,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Joyce Sims,
Cheater Slicks,
Swell Maps,
Niagra,
Harmonia,
Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound, Maleditus Sound.
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.