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 Philippines and from Stockholm.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Half Japanese to the techno kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Gladiators. All the underground hits.
All The Doobie Brothers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Khruangbin 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Thompson Twins record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New York Dolls,
Whodini,
The Grass Roots,
Tears for Fears,
Neu!,
Frankie Knuckles,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Velvet Underground,
Man Eating Sloth,
Babytalk,
CMW,
E-Dancer,
Magazine,
Mandrill,
Derrick May,
Siglo XX,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Ohio Players,
Radio Birdman,
Albert Ayler,
kango's stein massive,
Thompson Twins,
Boredoms,
Eden Ahbez,
K-Klass,
Eric Dolphy,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Jeru the Damaja,
Joey Negro,
Drexciya,
Infiniti,
DJ Sneak,
R.M.O.,
Marmalade,
The Motions,
Skaos,
the Germs,
Robert Görl,
Alice Coltrane,
Motorama,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Eric Copeland,
The Wake,
X-102,
Soft Cell,
The Leaves,
Cecil Taylor,
Glenn Branca,
Moss Icon,
Electric Prunes,
The Mummies,
Crash Course in Science,
EPMD,
Make Up,
Jacob Miller,
Half Japanese,
Excepter,
Desert Stars,
Dennis Brown,
Animal Collective,
Jimmy McGriff,
Faust, Faust, Faust, Faust.
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.