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 Vanuatu and from Copenhagen.
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 1964 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Alison Limerick to the grunge 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 Mission of Burma. All the underground hits.
All Jerry's Kids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fortunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 snare and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wally Richardson,
Blossom Toes,
Todd Terry,
Surgeon,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Detroit Cobras,
T. Rex,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Oblivians,
Yellowson,
Smog,
Reuben Wilson,
Ohio Players,
Slave,
Gang Starr,
Sugar Minott,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Flesh Eaters,
Fugazi,
Josef K,
Curtis Mayfield,
Half Japanese,
Severed Heads,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Bad Manners,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Tropical Tobacco,
New Order,
Connie Case,
David Bowie,
Eurythmics,
The New Christs,
Jandek,
The Doors,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Public Enemy,
Trumans Water,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Mantronix,
Harry Pussy,
New York Dolls,
Tres Demented,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Crime,
Nick Fraelich,
UT,
Minnie Riperton,
Mad Mike,
Sam Rivers,
Donny Hathaway,
Arab on Radar,
Lindisfarne,
the Slits,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Y Pants,
Jerry's Kids,
Grey Daturas,
The Mojo Men,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Peter & Gordon,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.