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 Slovakia and from Columbus.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Bronski Beat to the grunge 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 Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme. All the underground hits.
All Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ohio Players,
Au Pairs,
Severed Heads,
Joensuu 1685,
The Victims,
Mantronix,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
the Germs,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Yellowson,
Agitation Free,
Gichy Dan,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Cowsills,
David McCallum,
Los Fastidios,
the Slits,
Toni Rubio,
Black Moon,
The Selecter,
Icehouse,
Gil Scott Heron,
Yusef Lateef,
The Blues Magoos,
Jeff Lynne,
Scott Walker,
John Holt,
David Axelrod,
London Community Gospel Choir,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
In Retrospect,
Amon Düül II,
Sonic Youth,
Guru Guru,
MC5,
Wasted Youth,
Gang of Four,
Althea and Donna,
Dawn Penn,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lindisfarne,
Moss Icon,
Easy Going,
Harmonia,
Pantaleimon,
Matthew Bourne,
Robert Görl,
Joy Division,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Techniques,
Judy Mowatt,
Nils Olav,
Massinfluence,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Monochrome Set,
Vainqueur,
Whodini,
The Invisible,
Warren Ellis,
The Cramps,
Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sad Lovers and Giants.
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.