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 Georgia and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1966 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Mandrill 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 Pagans. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delon & Dalcan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
Nas,
Fatback Band,
Brand Nubian,
Suicide,
The New Christs,
Cecil Taylor,
Aloha Tigers,
The Five Americans,
The American Breed,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Newcleus,
Carl Craig,
Boogie Down Productions,
June Days,
Rites of Spring,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
MDC,
The Slits,
Bronski Beat,
Livin' Joy,
Eve St. Jones,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Big Daddy Kane,
Curtis Mayfield,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Kerri Chandler,
Amazonics,
The Grass Roots,
Y Pants,
Glenn Branca,
Hashim,
The Fuzztones,
Lou Christie,
Fat Boys,
Minnie Riperton,
Severed Heads,
Neil Young,
Con Funk Shun,
Lalann,
The Cure,
Rhythm & Sound,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Black Bananas,
Rufus Thomas,
Graham Central Station,
The Trojans,
The Motions,
Depeche Mode,
The Selecter,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Gerry Rafferty,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Joy Division,
Soft Machine,
Byron Stingily,
Peter & Gordon,
Stockholm Monsters,
Wasted Youth,
Tropical Tobacco,
Kerrie Biddell,
John Holt, John Holt, John Holt, John Holt.
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.