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 Comoros and from Mumbai.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Jerry's Kids to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All the Germs 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 rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cabaret Voltaire,
Iggy Pop,
Arab on Radar,
R.M.O.,
Althea and Donna,
The Five Americans,
Gabor Szabo,
Idris Muhammad,
Minny Pops,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sun Ra,
Terry Callier,
The Offenders,
Zero Boys,
Kenny Larkin,
The Alarm Clocks,
Swell Maps,
Alice Coltrane,
Brand Nubian,
Kas Product,
The Durutti Column,
LL Cool J,
Heaven 17,
Laurel Aitken,
Flash Fearless,
Average White Band,
Moss Icon,
Aloha Tigers,
Surgeon,
Essential Logic,
Alphaville,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Aural Exciters,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Tim Buckley,
Aaron Thompson,
Alton Ellis,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
D'Angelo,
Harmonia,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Barry Ungar,
Barrington Levy,
The Standells,
Josef K,
Malaria!,
Parry Music,
Flipper,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Carl Craig,
Fear,
Basic Channel,
Tommy Roe,
Sight & Sound,
cv313,
The Invisible,
The Detroit Cobras,
Guru Guru,
Gregory Isaacs,
This Heat,
The Music Machine,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.