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 Papua New Guinea and from Manila.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 electroclash kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Marshall Jefferson. All the underground hits.
All Eddi Front tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Litter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Audionom record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harpers Bizarre,
Amon Düül,
The Zeros,
Essential Logic,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
David McCallum,
Neil Young,
Ken Boothe,
The Black Dice,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
June of 44,
Khruangbin,
Lakeside,
Tres Demented,
D'Angelo,
Blake Baxter,
Unrelated Segments,
Funkadelic,
Bobbi Humphrey,
H. Thieme,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Eric Dolphy,
The Smiths,
Sam Rivers,
Brass Construction,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Babytalk,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Residents,
Franke,
Masters at Work,
Shoche,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
In Retrospect,
Jesper Dahlback,
John Holt,
Big Daddy Kane,
Absolute Body Control,
Glambeats Corp.,
Toni Rubio,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Johnny Clarke,
DJ Style,
Stiv Bators,
Japan,
Sound Behaviour,
the Sonics,
Ronnie Foster,
Delta 5,
Liliput,
LL Cool J,
Interpol,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Tim Buckley,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Detroit Cobras,
Boz Scaggs,
Hot Snakes,
Agitation Free,
Charles Mingus,
Malaria!,
Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca, Glenn Branca.
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.