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 Israel and from Houston.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 David Bowie 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 Infiniti to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Knickerbockers. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every U.S. Maple record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 clarinet and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Janne Schatter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Suburban Knight,
Nik Kershaw,
Von Mondo,
Deadbeat,
China Crisis,
John Cale,
The Young Rascals,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Funky Four + One,
Procol Harum,
Thompson Twins,
The Real Kids,
Eric Dolphy,
The Stooges,
Glenn Branca,
Bush Tetras,
Kas Product,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Monks,
Babytalk,
Pantytec,
The New Christs,
Hashim,
B.T. Express,
Frankie Knuckles,
Soft Machine,
Mission of Burma,
Nation of Ulysses,
Franke,
the Association,
Unwound,
Jandek,
The United States of America,
Goldenarms,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Echospace,
The Mojo Men,
Angry Samoans,
Motorama,
Erykah Badu,
The Dead C,
Blancmange,
Khruangbin,
Terrestrial Tones,
Man Eating Sloth,
Average White Band,
Fela Kuti,
The Cowsills,
Ossler,
Eve St. Jones,
Minutemen,
The Saints,
Urselle,
OOIOO,
Pet Shop Boys,
Cal Tjader,
Sun Ra,
Saccharine Trust,
D'Angelo,
Stockholm Monsters,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.