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 Guinea-Bissau and from Salvador.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Bang On A Can to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Fluxion. All the underground hits.
All Sandy B tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DeepChord presents Echospace 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pierre Henry record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
MDC,
Nation of Ulysses,
Rufus Thomas,
Sixth Finger,
The Doors,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Detroit Cobras,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Mark Hollis,
the Sonics,
Bill Near,
Rakim,
Funkadelic,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Dave Clark Five,
Dave Gahan,
Brass Construction,
The Buckinghams,
Bush Tetras,
MC5,
The Fortunes,
The Cramps,
Kerrie Biddell,
Bootsy Collins,
Todd Terry,
The Mummies,
Moss Icon,
John Cale,
Nik Kershaw,
Bronski Beat,
Oblivians,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Soul Sonic Force,
Prince Buster,
John Foxx,
Warren Ellis,
Sun Ra,
Ice-T,
Pole,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Von Mondo,
The Skatalites,
Siglo XX,
Dennis Brown,
Fad Gadget,
Marvin Gaye,
John Lydon,
Con Funk Shun,
Skarface,
Fear,
Scion,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Audionom,
Agitation Free,
James Chance & The Contortions,
James White and The Blacks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Move,
Skriet,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Nick Fraelich,
John Coltrane,
Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi.
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.