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 Mozambique and from Manchester.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 the Bar-Kays to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Lizzy Mercier Descloux. All the underground hits.
All Eric Dolphy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Names record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Model 500,
The Techniques,
Lower 48,
Jandek,
The Kinks,
Basic Channel,
Sound Behaviour,
Rosa Yemen,
Throbbing Gristle,
Panda Bear,
Tubeway Army,
Black Moon,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Peter and Kerry,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Skaos,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Porter Ricks,
MC5,
The Golliwogs,
Swell Maps,
Eric Dolphy,
Severed Heads,
Harpers Bizarre,
Niagra,
The Birthday Party,
Bill Wells,
Bobby Sherman,
Loose Ends,
Erasure,
The Cure,
Tears for Fears,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Slave,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Beau Brummels,
Japan,
Boogie Down Productions,
Delon & Dalcan,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Ludus,
Schoolly D,
The Star Department,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Mantronix,
Au Pairs,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Robert Wyatt,
Animal Collective,
Reuben Wilson,
the Normal,
Skriet,
June Days,
Electric Prunes,
The Seeds,
Saccharine Trust,
The Barracudas,
Albert Ayler,
Robert Hood,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Monks,
Pierre Henry,
Nick Fraelich,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.