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 Croatia and from Portland.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 marimba 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 The Saints to the funk 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 Erasure. All the underground hits.
All Tim Buckley tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nirvana record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Steve Hackett,
Neil Young,
Bronski Beat,
Symarip,
Kenny Larkin,
Robert Wyatt,
Vladislav Delay,
Fluxion,
David Bowie,
Negative Approach,
The Index,
Rakim,
Supertramp,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Japan,
Alphaville,
Grauzone,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Accadde A,
Au Pairs,
The Fire Engines,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Names,
Soft Cell,
Liliput,
LL Cool J,
Tres Demented,
Anakelly,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
In Retrospect,
Blancmange,
The Durutti Column,
The Busters,
Icehouse,
UT,
Organ,
Crooked Eye,
Gang of Four,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Young Rascals,
Fugazi,
Carl Craig,
Mission of Burma,
The Raincoats,
Mr. Review,
Aloha Tigers,
Rufus Thomas,
Excepter,
Judy Mowatt,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Colin Newman,
Agitation Free,
DNA,
Donny Hathaway,
Mandrill,
L. Decosne,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Motions,
Suicide,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Todd Rundgren, Todd Rundgren, Todd Rundgren, Todd Rundgren.
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.