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 Comoros and from Paris.
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 1961 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 808 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 Peter and Kerry to the techno 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 Leonard Cohen. All the underground hits.
All Los Fastidios tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Idris Muhammad 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Basic Channel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Godley & Creme,
Lucky Dragons,
The Offenders,
Livin' Joy,
The Kinks,
Scratch Acid,
Kas Product,
the Soft Cell,
The Gap Band,
Blancmange,
John Coltrane,
Henry Cow,
Second Layer,
Robert Görl,
Yaz,
Lalann,
Rites of Spring,
Crash Course in Science,
Pantaleimon,
Scan 7,
Scientists,
Tubeway Army,
Black Pus,
Charles Mingus,
Brothers Johnson,
The Moleskins,
KRS-One,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Sound,
Absolute Body Control,
Robert Wyatt,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Loose Ends,
Sandy B,
Lower 48,
Marmalade,
Niagra,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Minutemen,
Duran Duran,
Matthew Halsall,
Masters at Work,
the Fania All-Stars,
Desert Stars,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Letta Mbulu,
The Leaves,
Arthur Verocai,
Symarip,
Deadbeat,
La Düsseldorf,
The Tremeloes,
Donny Hathaway,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Pretty Things,
Vainqueur,
Iggy Pop,
Funky Four + One,
Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan, Delon & Dalcan.
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.