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 Taiwan and from Bremen.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 theremin 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 Soul Sonic Force to the dance kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Jandek. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every ABC record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Roy Ayers Ubiquity record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gregory Isaacs,
The Fortunes,
The Count Five,
Loose Ends,
Trumans Water,
Con Funk Shun,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Banda Bassotti,
Nik Kershaw,
In Retrospect,
Infiniti,
Cal Tjader,
Franke,
Brand Nubian,
Rufus Thomas,
Cybotron,
Roy Ayers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Real Kids,
48th St. Collective,
Kevin Saunderson,
Boz Scaggs,
Cecil Taylor,
Curtis Mayfield,
Fat Boys,
Soft Machine,
Deepchord,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Smoke,
Aswad,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The American Breed,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Leaves,
The Moody Blues,
Marshall Jefferson,
Robert Hood,
Technova,
Anakelly,
Altered Images,
Aloha Tigers,
Matthew Halsall,
Pere Ubu,
Fad Gadget,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Bill Wells,
Hashim,
Dawn Penn,
Carl Craig,
Warsaw,
Make Up,
Ronan,
Derrick Morgan,
Minor Threat,
Dark Day,
Skarface,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Nirvana,
Jerry's Kids,
Marcia Griffiths,
Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army, Tubeway Army.
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.