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 Macedonia and from Accra.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Tubeway Army to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Metal Thangz. All the underground hits.
All Camouflage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dead Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Matthew Bourne,
Bluetip,
Loose Ends,
Newcleus,
Public Image Ltd.,
Whodini,
48th St. Collective,
Quando Quango,
The Flesh Eaters,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Camouflage,
The Golliwogs,
Second Layer,
Hot Snakes,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Erykah Badu,
The Cramps,
Franke,
The Index,
John Cale,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Archie Shepp,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Model 500,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Durutti Column,
Warsaw,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ken Boothe,
JFA,
Faust,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Last Poets,
Yusef Lateef,
Simply Red,
The Pretty Things,
Gong,
Monolake,
The Birthday Party,
Suicide,
Jacques Brel,
B.T. Express,
Q65,
Nick Fraelich,
Nas,
Jandek,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Crispy Ambulance,
Leonard Cohen,
Brick,
X-102,
Sun Ra,
Cheater Slicks,
The Invisible,
Audionom,
Aural Exciters,
Gang Green,
the Sonics,
Juan Atkins,
Sarah Menescal,
Hoover,
Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül, Amon Düül.
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.