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 Comoros and from Hong Kong.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra to the dance 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 The Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All Nas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Siglo XX record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Inner City,
Minny Pops,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Television Personalities,
Avey Tare,
The Fortunes,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Todd Terry,
The Barracudas,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
The Vogues,
The Doobie Brothers,
Michelle Simonal,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Nick Fraelich,
E-Dancer,
Roger Hodgson,
Yusef Lateef,
Bush Tetras,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Human League,
Lou Christie,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bobby Byrd,
Mo-Dettes,
Kool Moe Dee,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Marine Girls,
The Moleskins,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
John Holt,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Mantronix,
Kenny Larkin,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Motions,
Erasure,
The Offenders,
Judy Mowatt,
Sister Nancy,
Joensuu 1685,
Skarface,
Shoche,
Roxette,
Lindisfarne,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lungfish,
Black Bananas,
T.S.O.L.,
Adolescents,
Bill Wells,
F. McDonald,
Scan 7,
Cluster,
Graham Central Station,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
La Düsseldorf,
Josef K,
Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker, Scott Walker.
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.