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 Argentina 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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Mandrill to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Basic Channel. All the underground hits.
All Country Teasers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crispian St. Peters 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Agitation Free record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Babytalk,
Basic Channel,
Chris & Cosey,
Joe Smooth,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Remains,
Lyres,
FM Einheit,
Symarip,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Dorothy Ashby,
Metal Thangz,
Isaac Hayes,
Drexciya,
Roy Ayers,
Scientists,
Yazoo,
Rekid,
Quadrant,
The Stooges,
The Golliwogs,
Dennis Brown,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Young Rascals,
Gang of Four,
MDC,
The Gladiators,
PIL,
Average White Band,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Parry Music,
Throbbing Gristle,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Niagra,
The Tremeloes,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lucky Dragons,
Radiohead,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Alice Coltrane,
The Techniques,
Brick,
Ituana,
Theoretical Girls,
Agent Orange,
The Victims,
Little Man,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Divine Comedy,
Lower 48,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Soulsonic Force,
the Swans,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Urselle,
The Dead C,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Electric Prunes,
Matthew Bourne,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express, B.T. Express.
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.