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 Burundi and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the theremin 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 Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roger Hodgson 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marine Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Agent Orange,
Lakeside,
Das Ding,
Crooked Eye,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Boz Scaggs,
Maurizio,
Robert Hood,
Quando Quango,
Radiohead,
China Crisis,
Sam Rivers,
The Cowsills,
JFA,
Nation of Ulysses,
Outsiders,
The Dave Clark Five,
Youth Brigade,
The Monks,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The American Breed,
DNA,
John Cale,
Oblivians,
Ken Boothe,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Judy Mowatt,
Jeff Mills,
The Moleskins,
Mars,
Khruangbin,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Depeche Mode,
The Birthday Party,
The Young Rascals,
Radiopuhelimet,
Ten City,
The United States of America,
The Black Dice,
The Index,
Intrusion,
Groovy Waters,
Average White Band,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Seeds,
Sound Behaviour,
Silicon Teens,
Newcleus,
Inner City,
Alton Ellis,
Little Man,
The Happenings,
Model 500,
The Blackbyrds,
Tropical Tobacco,
Pharoah Sanders,
La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf, La Düsseldorf.
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.