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 Manchester.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 güiro 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 Beasts of Bourbon to the electroclash 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 Tubeway Army. All the underground hits.
All Smog tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Strawberry Alarm Clock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a In Retrospect record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Skaos,
The Velvet Underground,
Skarface,
John Cale,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Fire Engines,
Man Parrish,
The Litter,
Sonic Youth,
Jawbox,
The Monks,
Flash Fearless,
Barrington Levy,
Kenny Larkin,
Sun Ra,
Swell Maps,
Little Man,
Parry Music,
The Dirtbombs,
Lucky Dragons,
The Wake,
CMW,
Alton Ellis,
Television Personalities,
Girls At Our Best!,
48th St. Collective,
Rapeman,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Rekid,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Amon Düül,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
June of 44,
Fad Gadget,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Khruangbin,
Godley & Creme,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Crispian St. Peters,
Todd Rundgren,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Black Flag,
The Smoke,
Neu!,
The Zeros,
Harmonia,
The Skatalites,
Crooked Eye,
Matthew Halsall,
Scan 7,
Bush Tetras,
Leonard Cohen,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Tropical Tobacco,
Lungfish,
Marmalade,
Delta 5,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Soft Machine,
New Order, New Order, New Order, New Order.
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.