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 Senegal and from Winnipeg.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Bronski Beat to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Vogues. All the underground hits.
All Wally Richardson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Davy DMX record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Robert Görl,
Aswad,
China Crisis,
Bronski Beat,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Zapp,
Sex Pistols,
Radio Birdman,
the Normal,
The Misunderstood,
The Walker Brothers,
Idris Muhammad,
Jimmy McGriff,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Birthday Party,
Gichy Dan,
Wire,
Gabor Szabo,
Heaven 17,
Roy Ayers,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Gang Green,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Crispian St. Peters,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Oneida,
Groovy Waters,
Letta Mbulu,
Joe Finger,
a-ha,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Lalann,
Deadbeat,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Black Moon,
David Axelrod,
Quadrant,
ABBA,
The Techniques,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Derrick May,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Tommy Roe,
Ludus,
Franke,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Q and Not U,
DJ Style,
Aaron Thompson,
Eric B and Rakim,
Boz Scaggs,
The Happenings,
The Martian,
Freddie Wadling,
Funkadelic,
Babytalk,
The Smiths,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bobby Byrd,
Colin Newman,
Erykah Badu,
Peter and Kerry,
Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone, Grauzone.
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.