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 Solomon Islands and from Calgary.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Lille.
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 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 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 Siglo XX to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Erasure. All the underground hits.
All Ornette Coleman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Justin Hinds & The Dominoes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Little Man record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ultimate Spinach,
Gang Green,
Robert Wyatt,
Sight & Sound,
The Monochrome Set,
Ohio Players,
Parry Music,
Brass Construction,
Agent Orange,
Robert Görl,
Brothers Johnson,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
The Seeds,
Mark Hollis,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Moebius,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Bob Dylan,
the Association,
Ossler,
Public Image Ltd.,
Bobby Sherman,
The Birthday Party,
Leonard Cohen,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Max Romeo,
Silicon Teens,
Glenn Branca,
Pulsallama,
Erasure,
David Axelrod,
Howard Jones,
Bill Near,
Deepchord,
Banda Bassotti,
In Retrospect,
the Germs,
a-ha,
Dual Sessions,
ABBA,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Dark Day,
Lightning Bolt,
Wire,
CMW,
Marshall Jefferson,
Nirvana,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Velvet Underground,
Panda Bear,
Stereo Dub,
the Slits,
Lee Hazlewood,
Jeff Mills,
Brick,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
LL Cool J,
Organ,
Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Bauhaus.
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.