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 Tunisia and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Wake to the electroclash kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 FM Einheit. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars 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 808 and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bronski Beat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Zeros,
Zero Boys,
Stetsasonic,
The Human League,
Prince Buster,
Parry Music,
Donald Byrd,
Metal Thangz,
Kayak,
Electric Light Orchestra,
U.S. Maple,
Kurtis Blow,
Soft Cell,
Supertramp,
Bobby Sherman,
The Doobie Brothers,
Graham Central Station,
In Retrospect,
the Germs,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Carl Craig,
The Mojo Men,
Brick,
The Cramps,
Suicide,
Soulsonic Force,
Cymande,
Pere Ubu,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sun Ra,
Porter Ricks,
Piero Umiliani,
The Angels of Light,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Suburban Knight,
Model 500,
Morten Harket,
A Certain Ratio,
Lightning Bolt,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jerry's Kids,
The Fugs,
Desert Stars,
The Tremeloes,
Ultra Naté,
The Searchers,
a-ha,
Cecil Taylor,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Second Layer,
Derrick Morgan,
Todd Terry,
Country Teasers,
John Coltrane,
Ronan, Ronan, Ronan, Ronan.
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.