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 Palau and from Philadelphia.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 clarinet 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 Bill Near to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Rhythm & Sound. All the underground hits.
All The Kinks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ituana 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tim Buckley,
Stiv Bators,
Mo-Dettes,
Soft Machine,
Nik Kershaw,
Sällskapet,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Buzzcocks,
Chrome,
Country Teasers,
Technova,
Babytalk,
Saccharine Trust,
Thompson Twins,
Man Parrish,
The Music Machine,
Dead Boys,
Delon & Dalcan,
David McCallum,
Alton Ellis,
Cal Tjader,
Dawn Penn,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Young Rascals,
T. Rex,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Cowsills,
Fat Boys,
Mandrill,
The Residents,
Colin Newman,
The Fire Engines,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Susan Cadogan,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Dennis Brown,
Hoover,
OOIOO,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Robert Görl,
Sexual Harrassment,
Marc Almond,
Ponytail,
X-102,
The Monks,
The Doobie Brothers,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Al Stewart,
Royal Trux,
Tom Boy,
Eve St. Jones,
Roger Hodgson,
Tropical Tobacco,
Arab on Radar,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Dorothy Ashby,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Henry Cow,
Wolf Eyes,
Freddie Wadling,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics, Eurythmics.
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.