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 El Salvador and from Bologna.
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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 synthesizer 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 the Bar-Kays to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 cv313. All the underground hits.
All Faraquet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Faraquet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erasure,
Juan Atkins,
Fear,
Oblivians,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Mary Jane Girls,
Pharoah Sanders,
Nas,
Robert Wyatt,
Can,
The Moody Blues,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Harry Pussy,
Malaria!,
Tomorrow,
Stiv Bators,
Clear Light,
Electric Prunes,
The Cramps,
Au Pairs,
Model 500,
Graham Central Station,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
These Immortal Souls,
Kerri Chandler,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Trumans Water,
Yaz,
Pantytec,
the Sonics,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Japan,
MDC,
Television Personalities,
Sixth Finger,
Y Pants,
Donald Byrd,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Darondo,
Tim Buckley,
Skriet,
K-Klass,
Sällskapet,
Thee Headcoats,
Fat Boys,
Average White Band,
Swans,
The Slits,
Jerry's Kids,
EPMD,
Tommy Roe,
Neil Young,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pylon,
The Modern Lovers,
Glenn Branca,
Alphaville,
Skaos,
Unwound,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bronski Beat,
Soul Sonic Force,
Rosa Yemen,
Cymande, Cymande, Cymande, Cymande.
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.