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 Syria and from Bremen.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 arpeggiator 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 Jimmy McGriff to the grunge 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 Joensuu 1685. All the underground hits.
All Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siouxsie and the Banshees 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 '70s.
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 Pantytec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Panda Bear,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Mummies,
Roxy Music,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Young Marble Giants,
Thompson Twins,
Laurel Aitken,
David Bowie,
Flipper,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
PIL,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Durutti Column,
Letta Mbulu,
Jeff Mills,
The Barracudas,
Rod Modell,
Ornette Coleman,
John Coltrane,
Marc Almond,
Malaria!,
Barbara Tucker,
Charles Mingus,
Gong,
Dennis Brown,
Freddie Wadling,
Ronnie Foster,
Judy Mowatt,
Stockholm Monsters,
Q and Not U,
Scratch Acid,
Sonny Sharrock,
Glambeats Corp.,
Mary Jane Girls,
Eric Copeland,
Erykah Badu,
The Walker Brothers,
Mad Mike,
June of 44,
Johnny Osbourne,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Public Enemy,
the Bar-Kays,
Girls At Our Best!,
Eric Dolphy,
The Sound,
Zapp,
Dark Day,
The Star Department,
Arthur Verocai,
Henry Cow,
Reuben Wilson,
Television Personalities,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Deakin, Deakin, Deakin, Deakin.
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.