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 Austria and from Lagos.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Letta Mbulu to the techno 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 Bang On A Can. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Yaz 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harry Pussy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Half Japanese,
the Sonics,
The Smiths,
Sight & Sound,
Rufus Thomas,
Pussy Galore,
Lungfish,
Arthur Verocai,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Beau Brummels,
Eden Ahbez,
Liliput,
Yellowson,
Radiohead,
Funkadelic,
Sex Pistols,
China Crisis,
David Bowie,
Bush Tetras,
Crime,
The Index,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Fela Kuti,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Tropical Tobacco,
Derrick Morgan,
Robert Hood,
Visage,
Deadbeat,
Guru Guru,
Ohio Players,
Jandek,
Porter Ricks,
Lee Hazlewood,
Quantec,
Charles Mingus,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Make Up,
Pharoah Sanders,
Nils Olav,
U.S. Maple,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Fluxion,
David Axelrod,
Con Funk Shun,
CMW,
Crash Course in Science,
The Angels of Light,
Joyce Sims,
Jawbox,
Eurythmics,
Nik Kershaw,
Morten Harket,
Kool Moe Dee,
Roger Hodgson,
the Human League,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Black Dice,
Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne, Matthew Bourne.
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.