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 Vanuatu and from Johannesburg.
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 1962 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the sitar 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 Fifty Foot Hose to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Chrome. All the underground hits.
All Fat Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reuben Wilson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 guitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Near record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wasted Youth,
the Association,
Alton Ellis,
The Sonics,
These Immortal Souls,
Monolake,
Ultimate Spinach,
Pussy Galore,
Traffic Nightmare,
Gabor Szabo,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Fela Kuti,
Dawn Penn,
Susan Cadogan,
OOIOO,
Ludus,
Amon Düül II,
Con Funk Shun,
Al Stewart,
World's Most,
Interpol,
EPMD,
Intrusion,
Audionom,
Banda Bassotti,
The Count Five,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Knickerbockers,
The Offenders,
Sexual Harrassment,
Prince Buster,
Main Source,
Unrelated Segments,
Crime,
Unwound,
Lou Reed,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Young Rascals,
Talk Talk,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Quadrant,
Scan 7,
8 Eyed Spy,
Joy Division,
Connie Case,
The Walker Brothers,
Public Enemy,
Moebius,
The Human League,
Theoretical Girls,
Sonic Youth,
Crispy Ambulance,
The New Christs,
Thompson Twins,
Lou Christie,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
E-Dancer,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lungfish,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith.
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.