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 Cuba and from Taipei.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 World's Most to the jazz 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 Moebius. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Womack tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Qualms 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Animal Collective record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Knickerbockers,
The Searchers,
Alphaville,
The Standells,
Ultimate Spinach,
Nico,
Hot Snakes,
EPMD,
the Germs,
Main Source,
Desert Stars,
Tubeway Army,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
ABC,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Donald Byrd,
T. Rex,
Johnny Clarke,
Glenn Branca,
The Cure,
Joe Finger,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Remains,
Judy Mowatt,
Oneida,
Sugar Minott,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Alarm Clocks,
Sexual Harrassment,
Kenny Larkin,
The Doobie Brothers,
Schoolly D,
10cc,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Circle Jerks,
The Last Poets,
Simply Red,
Black Sheep,
Hasil Adkins,
Funky Four + One,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Leonard Cohen,
ABBA,
The Gories,
Fat Boys,
Nas,
DJ Style,
Silicon Teens,
the Bar-Kays,
The Associates,
Lucky Dragons,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Quando Quango,
Youth Brigade,
Boz Scaggs,
Section 25,
Arthur Verocai,
The Red Krayola,
Eric Copeland,
Saccharine Trust,
Lee Hazlewood,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.