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 Argentina and from Bremen.
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 1962 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 Robert Palmer 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 Bootsy Collins 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 Flash Fearless. All the underground hits.
All Brass Construction tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Frankie Knuckles 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Suicide record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Standells,
Ten City,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Man Eating Sloth,
Brand Nubian,
Roxette,
The Divine Comedy,
The Raincoats,
Young Marble Giants,
kango's stein massive,
Chris & Cosey,
The Index,
Josef K,
Hasil Adkins,
The Moody Blues,
Flamin' Groovies,
Marine Girls,
Robert Wyatt,
Monks,
Whodini,
Lightning Bolt,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Schoolly D,
Mary Jane Girls,
Warsaw,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Robert Hood,
Hashim,
Donald Byrd,
KRS-One,
Lakeside,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Chris Corsano,
Bobby Sherman,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Moby Grape,
The Happenings,
U.S. Maple,
E-Dancer,
The Dead C,
Theoretical Girls,
T. Rex,
Scan 7,
Motorama,
John Cale,
Blancmange,
Ultravox,
Camberwell Now,
Bill Wells,
Neu!,
China Crisis,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
D'Angelo,
Rod Modell,
Angry Samoans,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Oblivians,
Mission of Burma,
Sixth Finger,
Kevin Saunderson,
Patti Smith,
The Litter, The Litter, The Litter, The Litter.
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.