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 Mexico City.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 synthesizer 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 Pere Ubu to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. All the underground hits.
All Jerry's Kids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hardrive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Country Teasers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Throbbing Gristle,
Rakim,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Mark Hollis,
Tubeway Army,
The Golliwogs,
Alison Limerick,
Public Image Ltd.,
Minor Threat,
Soulsonic Force,
Ralphi Rosario,
Sam Rivers,
Bizarre Inc.,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
James White and The Blacks,
The Invisible,
MC5,
Television Personalities,
DNA,
Little Man,
Faraquet,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Gang Green,
Darondo,
The Grass Roots,
Jeff Mills,
The Monks,
Young Marble Giants,
Curtis Mayfield,
Radio Birdman,
PIL,
Pylon,
The Cure,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Smiths,
Laurel Aitken,
Yellowson,
Marcia Griffiths,
Kas Product,
Matthew Bourne,
The Star Department,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Funky Four + One,
Cecil Taylor,
Ituana,
Gichy Dan,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Robert Wyatt,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Velvet Underground,
Eric Copeland,
Dead Boys,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Black Pus,
Ten City,
Country Teasers,
Ludus,
Matthew Halsall,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.