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 Kosovo and from Spokane.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 The Durutti Column to the disco kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Althea and Donna. All the underground hits.
All Ultra Naté tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scion record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeru the Damaja record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Christie,
Little Man,
Jawbox,
Fat Boys,
Mantronix,
Sun Ra,
China Crisis,
Alice Coltrane,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Black Dice,
Judy Mowatt,
Sandy B,
The Young Rascals,
Mad Mike,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Jesper Dahlback,
Funky Four + One,
The Doors,
Loose Ends,
Amazonics,
Bob Dylan,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Terry Callier,
Marine Girls,
Stockholm Monsters,
Monks,
Simply Red,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Standells,
The Toasters,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Golliwogs,
Kerrie Biddell,
Heaven 17,
the Soft Cell,
Magma,
Sonny Sharrock,
MC5,
Crispy Ambulance,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Robert Wyatt,
Gichy Dan,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Juan Atkins,
Lindisfarne,
The Pretty Things,
Y Pants,
Wire,
The Modern Lovers,
The Slits,
Nas,
Joe Smooth,
The Alarm Clocks,
Intrusion,
Drive Like Jehu,
UT,
Gregory Isaacs,
Jeff Mills,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.