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 Mongolia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Todd Rundgren to the grime 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 John Cale. All the underground hits.
All The Divine Comedy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blake Baxter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 snare and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Black Sheep record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Sound,
The Black Dice,
Patti Smith,
The Happenings,
Nirvana,
Wolf Eyes,
Todd Terry,
Roxette,
Joyce Sims,
Outsiders,
Nas,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Shoche,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Anakelly,
Delta 5,
Rotary Connection,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Icehouse,
Robert Görl,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Cymande,
David Bowie,
Eli Mardock,
LL Cool J,
The Pretty Things,
Boz Scaggs,
The Music Machine,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Vogues,
Kas Product,
Eurythmics,
Max Romeo,
The Doobie Brothers,
the Soft Cell,
Guru Guru,
JFA,
Robert Wyatt,
Goldenarms,
Con Funk Shun,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Soft Machine,
OOIOO,
the Association,
a-ha,
The Velvet Underground,
Gregory Isaacs,
Infiniti,
Gang Starr,
The Fuzztones,
Josef K,
Bush Tetras,
Swell Maps,
Khruangbin,
Andrew Hill,
Soft Cell,
Frankie Knuckles,
Lindisfarne,
Country Teasers,
The Techniques,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.