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 Greece and from Stockholm.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 harpsichord 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 Aural Exciters to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Bootsy's Rubber Band. All the underground hits.
All Man Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Leaves record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rekid,
The Flesh Eaters,
X-Ray Spex,
The Evens,
Harmonia,
Man Eating Sloth,
Spandau Ballet,
Beasts of Bourbon,
LL Cool J,
Television Personalities,
The Wake,
Pere Ubu,
Drive Like Jehu,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bauhaus,
DNA,
D'Angelo,
The Cure,
Little Man,
The Offenders,
Trumans Water,
China Crisis,
The Doobie Brothers,
Iggy Pop,
Moby Grape,
Excepter,
Matthew Halsall,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Throbbing Gristle,
New Age Steppers,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
A Certain Ratio,
Groovy Waters,
Frankie Knuckles,
Liliput,
The Fire Engines,
Nas,
B.T. Express,
Cameo,
Warren Ellis,
Fear,
Franke,
The Detroit Cobras,
Crooked Eye,
Subhumans,
Newcleus,
Television,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Kool Moe Dee,
Minutemen,
Sonny Sharrock,
Soulsonic Force,
Yazoo,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Moody Blues,
Todd Rundgren,
Sight & Sound,
Jeru the Damaja,
Wings,
Y Pants,
Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig, Carl Craig.
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.