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 Gambia and from Paris.
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 1961 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Yazoo 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 MC5. All the underground hits.
All Half Japanese tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Babytalk 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Red Krayola record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pretty Things,
Jawbox,
Skriet,
Neu!,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
R.M.O.,
Radiopuhelimet,
Nirvana,
The Cramps,
Wally Richardson,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Index,
Fatback Band,
Organ,
The Birthday Party,
H. Thieme,
Tres Demented,
Minnie Riperton,
Lebanon Hanover,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Fire Engines,
The Velvet Underground,
Bill Wells,
The Techniques,
Tom Boy,
Max Romeo,
Franke,
Delon & Dalcan,
Sun Ra,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Camouflage,
Symarip,
Little Man,
The Real Kids,
Hot Snakes,
Matthew Halsall,
Oblivians,
Radio Birdman,
The Skatalites,
Bobby Womack,
10cc,
The Black Dice,
Bizarre Inc.,
Minutemen,
the Swans,
Rhythm & Sound,
John Coltrane,
The Victims,
The Selecter,
Soulsonic Force,
Eddi Front,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Basic Channel,
Scott Walker,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Stiv Bators,
Davy DMX,
Procol Harum,
Banda Bassotti,
DNA,
Pussy Galore,
Neil Young,
The Litter,
Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes.
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.