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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Hong Kong.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Soft Machine to the disco 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 Grauzone. All the underground hits.
All Marcia Griffiths tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Laurel Aitken record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 snare and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gastr Del Sol record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Divine Comedy,
John Lydon,
Babytalk,
The Kinks,
the Normal,
Youth Brigade,
The Cure,
Cal Tjader,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Glambeats Corp.,
Eric Dolphy,
Amon Düül,
Ronnie Foster,
The Evens,
One Last Wish,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Sound Behaviour,
Pole,
Average White Band,
Motorama,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Dark Day,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
the Soft Cell,
Fluxion,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Tommy Roe,
Q and Not U,
Spandau Ballet,
Suburban Knight,
The Misunderstood,
Panda Bear,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Kaleidoscope,
DNA,
Anthony Braxton,
Bill Wells,
Robert Hood,
Minnie Riperton,
Outsiders,
The New Christs,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Nation of Ulysses,
Radiopuhelimet,
Malaria!,
June Days,
The Vogues,
Fad Gadget,
Groovy Waters,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bobby Sherman,
Lalo Schifrin,
Matthew Halsall,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Icehouse,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Eric Copeland,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Blossom Toes,
Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry, Don Cherry.
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.