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 Tonga and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 snare 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 Eric B and Rakim to the jazz 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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Animal Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Arcadia record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Technova,
Big Daddy Kane,
Little Man,
The American Breed,
Cybotron,
The Modern Lovers,
Wings,
Robert Hood,
The Gladiators,
Echospace,
John Holt,
Janne Schatter,
Ludus,
Tears for Fears,
The Real Kids,
the Germs,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Mission of Burma,
Hasil Adkins,
Patti Smith,
Nils Olav,
China Crisis,
Soulsonic Force,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Motorama,
Can,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Cramps,
Severed Heads,
The Gap Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Archie Shepp,
Barry Ungar,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Young Rascals,
UT,
Henry Cow,
Charles Mingus,
The Fugs,
The Doors,
Jawbox,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Cameo,
Main Source,
Man Eating Sloth,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Agent Orange,
Sonny Sharrock,
EPMD,
Brick,
Young Marble Giants,
Sarah Menescal,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Detroit Cobras,
Los Fastidios,
Hardrive,
The Slits,
Yazoo,
Agitation Free,
Chris & Cosey,
Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill.
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.