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 Nigeria and from Copenhagen.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Manchester.
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 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 Velvet Underground to the funk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Los Fastidios. All the underground hits.
All Brass Construction tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Chocolate Watch Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Steve Hackett,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Khruangbin,
Amon Düül II,
Echospace,
Angry Samoans,
Easy Going,
The J.B.'s,
Marshall Jefferson,
Nirvana,
Matthew Bourne,
Ronnie Foster,
L. Decosne,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
the Normal,
Ice-T,
Parry Music,
Patti Smith,
Negative Approach,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Television,
The Blues Magoos,
Outsiders,
Cal Tjader,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Anthony Braxton,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Visage,
Davy DMX,
Robert Görl,
Deakin,
Scrapy,
Public Enemy,
Harry Pussy,
Soul II Soul,
Ralphi Rosario,
AZ,
The Kinks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Procol Harum,
Sam Rivers,
The Fall,
The New Christs,
Gabor Szabo,
D'Angelo,
Dual Sessions,
LL Cool J,
Vainqueur,
Joe Smooth,
The Velvet Underground,
Byron Stingily,
JFA,
The United States of America,
Television Personalities,
Unrelated Segments,
Crispy Ambulance,
Kerri Chandler,
New Order,
Chris & Cosey,
Das Ding,
Index,
Danielle Patucci,
Marcia Griffiths,
Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti.
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.