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 Serbia and from Taipei.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 harpsichord 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 Monks to the rock kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Jacques Brel. All the underground hits.
All Gary Puckett & The Union Gap tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Light Orchestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a June Days record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Buzzcocks,
X-102,
Donald Byrd,
Monolake,
Vainqueur,
Derrick Morgan,
Faust,
Lebanon Hanover,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Zapp,
Babytalk,
Shoche,
Kurtis Blow,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Bang On A Can,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
AZ,
Camberwell Now,
Pantaleimon,
Barbara Tucker,
Urselle,
Kaleidoscope,
Con Funk Shun,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Marvin Gaye,
Pole,
Gong,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Essential Logic,
Circle Jerks,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Moody Blues,
Sugar Minott,
Skarface,
Nas,
Warsaw,
The Dirtbombs,
John Holt,
B.T. Express,
Fad Gadget,
China Crisis,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Nik Kershaw,
Eric Dolphy,
the Normal,
Pussy Galore,
Crispy Ambulance,
Subhumans,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Negative Approach,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Nation of Ulysses,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Neil Young,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Faraquet,
Easy Going,
PIL,
Judy Mowatt,
Joe Smooth,
Tomorrow,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.