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 Somalia and from Accra.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Minnie Riperton 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 Darondo. All the underground hits.
All This Heat tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Audionom record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
PIL,
The Birthday Party,
Blake Baxter,
Second Layer,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Alarm Clocks,
John Cale,
Masters at Work,
Sarah Menescal,
Arab on Radar,
Byron Stingily,
Talk Talk,
Oblivians,
Brass Construction,
Leonard Cohen,
Qualms,
Section 25,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Stereo Dub,
Mandrill,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Minny Pops,
Make Up,
Grey Daturas,
Silicon Teens,
Gang Green,
Excepter,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Public Enemy,
The Associates,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Crime,
ABBA,
The Fortunes,
The Smiths,
The Evens,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Five Americans,
Roger Hodgson,
Sister Nancy,
Don Cherry,
Aural Exciters,
Sly & The Family Stone,
the Swans,
Ossler,
Subhumans,
Marc Almond,
The Wake,
Girls At Our Best!,
Electric Prunes,
Parry Music,
The Golliwogs,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Rekid,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
MDC,
Black Bananas,
Man Eating Sloth,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ornette Coleman,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Deakin, Deakin, Deakin, Deakin.
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.