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 Korea North and from Shanghai.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 United States of America to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Bronski Beat. All the underground hits.
All Hasil Adkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cabaret Voltaire 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-102 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ultravox,
Symarip,
The Birthday Party,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Sarah Menescal,
Lakeside,
Marc Almond,
Bill Wells,
Fatback Band,
Desert Stars,
Warsaw,
The American Breed,
The Happenings,
Masters at Work,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
FM Einheit,
Television Personalities,
Los Fastidios,
The Wake,
AZ,
The Electric Prunes,
Radiohead,
The Searchers,
Rod Modell,
Fugazi,
Thee Headcoats,
Swans,
Carl Craig,
Heaven 17,
48th St. Collective,
Lee Hazlewood,
Scan 7,
Crispian St. Peters,
EPMD,
The Dead C,
Kurtis Blow,
The Red Krayola,
The Monochrome Set,
Ice-T,
Peter and Kerry,
Bluetip,
Scott Walker,
Don Cherry,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Suicide,
Yazoo,
John Coltrane,
Judy Mowatt,
The Cramps,
Procol Harum,
Amon Düül,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bang On A Can,
Connie Case,
Animal Collective,
Pere Ubu,
The Walker Brothers,
the Slits,
Aaron Thompson,
The Smoke,
Nas,
Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music.
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.