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 Kyrgyzstan and from Sao Paulo.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 ABC to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth. All the underground hits.
All Jeff Mills tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Count Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Camberwell Now,
The Gun Club,
The Walker Brothers,
Peter & Gordon,
T. Rex,
Barrington Levy,
Funky Four + One,
Soul II Soul,
Mark Hollis,
Josef K,
Mad Mike,
The Neon Judgement,
The Durutti Column,
Joey Negro,
One Last Wish,
Marmalade,
Crispy Ambulance,
Derrick May,
Q65,
Gang Green,
Gastr Del Sol,
Letta Mbulu,
John Coltrane,
Unrelated Segments,
The Skatalites,
Lalann,
Albert Ayler,
Johnny Clarke,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Barry Ungar,
Sonny Sharrock,
Freddie Wadling,
Con Funk Shun,
Dual Sessions,
Icehouse,
Nik Kershaw,
Lalo Schifrin,
Vladislav Delay,
Wire,
Mary Jane Girls,
the Soft Cell,
Marine Girls,
Y Pants,
Symarip,
Guru Guru,
Laurel Aitken,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Leaves,
The Kinks,
Eurythmics,
Robert Görl,
Robert Hood,
Talk Talk,
Traffic Nightmare,
Piero Umiliani,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Q and Not U,
Angry Samoans,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Detroit Cobras,
X-101, X-101, X-101, X-101.
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.