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 Barbados and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962.
I was there at the first Guess Who show in Winnipeg.
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 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 synthesizer 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 Ash Ra Tempel to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All The Sisters of Mercy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pole 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Flipper record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rufus Thomas,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Evens,
Neu!,
Harpers Bizarre,
Severed Heads,
The Barracudas,
Kerri Chandler,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
JFA,
Cymande,
the Sonics,
The Human League,
Hoover,
The Slits,
Gastr Del Sol,
Fear,
Lindisfarne,
OOIOO,
Can,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Drexciya,
Underground Resistance,
John Lydon,
Porter Ricks,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Minnie Riperton,
The Remains,
Skaos,
Sun City Girls,
Throbbing Gristle,
Kayak,
Lou Christie,
Nirvana,
Wire,
Whodini,
X-101,
The Smoke,
Yusef Lateef,
Eric Copeland,
Aural Exciters,
Lungfish,
Eyeless In Gaza,
the Germs,
The Velvet Underground,
Ludus,
Flamin' Groovies,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Rapeman,
Idris Muhammad,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Ice-T,
The Fortunes,
Jeff Lynne,
Sonny Sharrock,
Chris Corsano,
The Sonics,
Angry Samoans,
Dead Boys,
Cecil Taylor,
Scion,
Organ,
Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis, Alton Ellis.
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.