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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Glasgow.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Throbbing Gristle to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Standells. All the underground hits.
All Theoretical Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Subhumans 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Flesh Eaters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alton Ellis,
Groovy Waters,
The Gories,
Aloha Tigers,
The Barracudas,
OOIOO,
Radiohead,
Gerry Rafferty,
Patti Smith,
Danielle Patucci,
Supertramp,
Television Personalities,
Newcleus,
The Divine Comedy,
Niagra,
the Germs,
The Doors,
World's Most,
Yellowson,
Infiniti,
Sonny Sharrock,
Q and Not U,
John Foxx,
Yazoo,
Eli Mardock,
Suicide,
Harry Pussy,
Funkadelic,
PIL,
Jerry's Kids,
Minor Threat,
Rufus Thomas,
The Modern Lovers,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Brass Construction,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Seeds,
F. McDonald,
Don Cherry,
EPMD,
Cecil Taylor,
Idris Muhammad,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Swans,
Marine Girls,
Chris & Cosey,
Cameo,
Marcia Griffiths,
Deakin,
Blake Baxter,
Man Eating Sloth,
Underground Resistance,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Byron Stingily,
Rapeman,
Popol Vuh,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Desert Stars,
Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja, Jeru the Damaja.
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.