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 Afghanistan and from Lille.
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 Spokane and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 chamberlin 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 Deadbeat to the rap 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 The Five Americans. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül II tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Negative Approach record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Howard Jones,
The Misunderstood,
The Offenders,
The Mummies,
Duran Duran,
Moebius,
Black Bananas,
Derrick May,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Wasted Youth,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Gun Club,
The Cure,
The Residents,
Joyce Sims,
Groovy Waters,
The Monochrome Set,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Laurel Aitken,
X-102,
Saccharine Trust,
Minor Threat,
Bluetip,
Jawbox,
The Dirtbombs,
Ludus,
Bauhaus,
Marc Almond,
Adolescents,
Amon Düül,
Reuben Wilson,
Wings,
The Trojans,
kango's stein massive,
The Happenings,
Au Pairs,
Maurizio,
Kool Moe Dee,
Main Source,
Darondo,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Girls At Our Best!,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Cecil Taylor,
Q and Not U,
Michelle Simonal,
Traffic Nightmare,
One Last Wish,
Henry Cow,
Deadbeat,
Donny Hathaway,
Unrelated Segments,
Surgeon,
Gang Green,
E-Dancer,
The Real Kids,
Ice-T,
Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps, Swell Maps.
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.