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 Tanzania and from Johannesburg.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 808 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 Can to the rock 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 Sandy B. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Bourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T.S.O.L. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Barclay James Harvest record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Average White Band,
The Blues Magoos,
MDC,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
a-ha,
Warren Ellis,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Avey Tare,
The Smiths,
Chris & Cosey,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Flash Fearless,
Blake Baxter,
John Foxx,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Alice Coltrane,
Niagra,
OOIOO,
One Last Wish,
Au Pairs,
Frankie Knuckles,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Sugar Minott,
David Bowie,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Sex Pistols,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Invisible,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Banda Bassotti,
Unwound,
Maleditus Sound,
Joyce Sims,
Man Eating Sloth,
Loose Ends,
Reagan Youth,
Marine Girls,
The Red Krayola,
Charles Mingus,
Y Pants,
Angry Samoans,
The Skatalites,
Derrick May,
Warsaw,
The Cowsills,
U.S. Maple,
Depeche Mode,
Ken Boothe,
Morten Harket,
Man Parrish,
A Certain Ratio,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Scrapy,
Television,
Marvin Gaye,
The Monochrome Set,
The Moody Blues,
The Saints,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Slackers,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.