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 Paraguay and from Houston.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Manila.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar 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 Saccharine Trust to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Offenders. All the underground hits.
All Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fortunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gastr Del Sol record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Hardrive,
Avey Tare,
Bauhaus,
The Slackers,
Bob Dylan,
Bill Near,
Lalo Schifrin,
Don Cherry,
Ohio Players,
T.S.O.L.,
The Music Machine,
Sight & Sound,
Barrington Levy,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Basic Channel,
Gang Gang Dance,
John Holt,
Chrome,
Nas,
Bluetip,
Blake Baxter,
Fat Boys,
Judy Mowatt,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sarah Menescal,
This Heat,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Throbbing Gristle,
AZ,
Liliput,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Divine Comedy,
La Düsseldorf,
LL Cool J,
Eric Copeland,
Visage,
Bobby Byrd,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Dark Day,
The Slits,
The Angels of Light,
The Smiths,
New Order,
the Swans,
Thee Headcoats,
China Crisis,
Youth Brigade,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
48th St. Collective,
Buzzcocks,
Radiopuhelimet,
Black Bananas,
Interpol,
The Associates,
Lakeside,
Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger, Joe Finger.
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.