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 South Sudan and from Toronto.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Byron Stingily to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Swell Maps. All the underground hits.
All Kool Moe Dee tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kerri Chandler record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Juan Atkins,
Charles Mingus,
Lalann,
Unwound,
Traffic Nightmare,
Darondo,
Second Layer,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Ludus,
Sun Ra,
Letta Mbulu,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Little Man,
Josef K,
the Bar-Kays,
Fugazi,
Sound Behaviour,
Basic Channel,
China Crisis,
the Swans,
Joy Division,
the Sonics,
K-Klass,
Eric Dolphy,
Fear,
Cecil Taylor,
Porter Ricks,
Soft Cell,
Black Bananas,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Carl Craig,
D'Angelo,
Jawbox,
Jeff Mills,
UT,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Yazoo,
Metal Thangz,
Dawn Penn,
Flipper,
Slave,
Henry Cow,
The Golliwogs,
The Pretty Things,
Roger Hodgson,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Sonic Youth,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Eurythmics,
CMW,
Angry Samoans,
Barry Ungar,
Agent Orange,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Young Rascals,
Rapeman,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jacques Brel,
Ponytail,
Moby Grape,
Amon Düül,
Robert Wyatt,
Marine Girls,
Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson, Marshall Jefferson.
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.