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 Iceland and from Stockholm.
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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Nick Fraelich to the punk 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 Banda Bassotti. All the underground hits.
All Guru Guru tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Amon Düül II 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 rhodes and a theremin 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 theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Shoche,
Jawbox,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Jerry's Kids,
Mark Hollis,
Flamin' Groovies,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Jacques Brel,
The Sonics,
Flash Fearless,
Funkadelic,
Anakelly,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gang Green,
MDC,
Tomorrow,
the Association,
Liliput,
Main Source,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
T. Rex,
Kurtis Blow,
Bootsy Collins,
Skriet,
The Black Dice,
Judy Mowatt,
Todd Terry,
U.S. Maple,
John Lydon,
John Foxx,
John Coltrane,
MC5,
Fluxion,
Au Pairs,
Sixth Finger,
Public Enemy,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
World's Most,
Marmalade,
Silicon Teens,
The Kinks,
Echospace,
Deadbeat,
Oneida,
Lou Reed,
Mo-Dettes,
The Gun Club,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Rosa Yemen,
Smog,
the Germs,
The Slackers,
Jesper Dahlback,
the Human League,
Scientists,
Wally Richardson,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Peter & Gordon,
Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U.
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.