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 Tunisia and from Tehran.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Houston.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Fela Kuti to the techno 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 New Order. All the underground hits.
All Aswad tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stetsasonic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terry Callier record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
a-ha,
Pussy Galore,
Kevin Saunderson,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Invisible,
Ken Boothe,
The Young Rascals,
Unwound,
Susan Cadogan,
Harry Pussy,
Y Pants,
Erykah Badu,
Arab on Radar,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Janne Schatter,
Bad Manners,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Alarm Clocks,
Cecil Taylor,
Rufus Thomas,
Barry Ungar,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Chris Corsano,
Magazine,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Raincoats,
Grey Daturas,
The Walker Brothers,
Half Japanese,
The Wake,
Alton Ellis,
Radiopuhelimet,
Guru Guru,
Deepchord,
Anthony Braxton,
Stockholm Monsters,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Lebanon Hanover,
Colin Newman,
Josef K,
Jacob Miller,
Pantaleimon,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
China Crisis,
Jandek,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Music Machine,
T. Rex,
Brass Construction,
Accadde A,
Technova,
FM Einheit,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
X-Ray Spex,
Camberwell Now,
Vainqueur,
the Bar-Kays,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sex Pistols,
Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat.
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.