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 El Salvador and from Lagos.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 rhodes 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 Arthur Verocai to the jazz 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 Anthony Braxton. All the underground hits.
All Roxette tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Womack record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Silicon Teens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Slick Rick,
Rekid,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Talk Talk,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Ice-T,
The Gories,
Sun Ra,
Matthew Halsall,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Kool Moe Dee,
Japan,
Todd Rundgren,
Andrew Hill,
Mantronix,
The Fall,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
One Last Wish,
Niagra,
The Fire Engines,
Terrestrial Tones,
Rakim,
Yaz,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Anakelly,
Monks,
The Standells,
Pet Shop Boys,
Sandy B,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Tim Buckley,
Lower 48,
David Bowie,
Prince Buster,
Charles Mingus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Agent Orange,
Saccharine Trust,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Beau Brummels,
Amon Düül II,
Pagans,
Stetsasonic,
The Divine Comedy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Country Teasers,
Quadrant,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Unrelated Segments,
Marmalade,
UT,
R.M.O.,
The Happenings,
the Bar-Kays,
The Seeds,
DJ Style,
Graham Central Station,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Knickerbockers,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Mo-Dettes,
In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect, In Retrospect.
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.