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 Algeria and from Manchester.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Unwound to the rap 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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All The Beau Brummels tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jawbox 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a DNA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tres Demented,
Cheater Slicks,
Lungfish,
Buzzcocks,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bronski Beat,
Robert Wyatt,
Jandek,
Vainqueur,
Roxette,
Oblivians,
Nation of Ulysses,
Main Source,
Maleditus Sound,
Visage,
Blancmange,
X-101,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Happenings,
Das Ding,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Sound,
Smog,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Fortunes,
the Sonics,
Excepter,
Blake Baxter,
Letta Mbulu,
The Birthday Party,
Spandau Ballet,
Rapeman,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Modern Lovers,
Faust,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Desert Stars,
Wally Richardson,
Brick,
Girls At Our Best!,
Loose Ends,
Lightning Bolt,
Metal Thangz,
Unwound,
Max Romeo,
Sam Rivers,
Sonic Youth,
Fluxion,
Second Layer,
The Smiths,
Bizarre Inc.,
Funky Four + One,
Jeru the Damaja,
Young Marble Giants,
Half Japanese,
Mark Hollis,
The Blackbyrds,
Fear,
Toni Rubio,
Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon, Moss Icon.
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.