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 Dominica and from Manchester.
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 1967 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 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 UT to the crunk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Fania All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Thompson Twins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hardrive record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Liliput,
Fluxion,
The Gap Band,
the Swans,
Eli Mardock,
Con Funk Shun,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Robert Wyatt,
Lalo Schifrin,
Godley & Creme,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gerry Rafferty,
World's Most,
Eve St. Jones,
Groovy Waters,
Albert Ayler,
Cybotron,
X-Ray Spex,
Sonic Youth,
the Fania All-Stars,
Tom Boy,
Faraquet,
These Immortal Souls,
Ultimate Spinach,
Aswad,
Peter & Gordon,
Black Flag,
Arcadia,
Bluetip,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Index,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Standells,
Quantec,
The Black Dice,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Divine Comedy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Blues Magoos,
The Wake,
Rekid,
the Normal,
Harmonia,
Alphaville,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Saints,
Sandy B,
Ultravox,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ronnie Foster,
Colin Newman,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Severed Heads,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Gladiators,
The Pop Group,
Silicon Teens,
Quadrant,
Depeche Mode,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.