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 Congo and from Winnipeg.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft to the rock 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 Marcia Griffiths. All the underground hits.
All The J.B.'s tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Theoretical Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Procol Harum,
Charles Mingus,
Zero Boys,
Ralphi Rosario,
the Soft Cell,
Liliput,
Subhumans,
Quantec,
Graham Central Station,
John Foxx,
The Flesh Eaters,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lebanon Hanover,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Dead C,
Jeff Mills,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Maurizio,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Bill Wells,
Cybotron,
Radio Birdman,
Livin' Joy,
EPMD,
F. McDonald,
Scrapy,
Tres Demented,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Trumans Water,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Johnny Clarke,
Slick Rick,
A Certain Ratio,
Radiohead,
Rosa Yemen,
Alphaville,
Matthew Halsall,
John Cale,
the Slits,
Hoover,
Deadbeat,
Severed Heads,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Drive Like Jehu,
Magma,
The Happenings,
Ponytail,
Cameo,
Donny Hathaway,
Stiv Bators,
Rapeman,
Faust,
Jimmy McGriff,
Popol Vuh,
Jawbox,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Deakin,
Shoche,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Darondo, Darondo, Darondo, Darondo.
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.