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 Guinea and from Bologna.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 rhodes 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 Grandmaster Flash to the rock 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 Colin Newman. All the underground hits.
All The Birthday Party tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Beau Brummels record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Soft Cell,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Joe Smooth,
Pole,
Erykah Badu,
Kurtis Blow,
The Cure,
The J.B.'s,
Agent Orange,
The Residents,
48th St. Collective,
June Days,
Absolute Body Control,
Magma,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Byron Stingily,
Ornette Coleman,
Sarah Menescal,
Half Japanese,
Goldenarms,
Wasted Youth,
Minnie Riperton,
Chris & Cosey,
Mars,
The Selecter,
Eric Copeland,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Minor Threat,
Eurythmics,
Dual Sessions,
Livin' Joy,
Crooked Eye,
Soul II Soul,
F. McDonald,
Lindisfarne,
The Alarm Clocks,
Mantronix,
Technova,
Robert Görl,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Wire,
Organ,
Neu!,
Sandy B,
Severed Heads,
The Real Kids,
Gang of Four,
Gong,
Black Pus,
Graham Central Station,
Shuggie Otis,
Trumans Water,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Angels of Light,
Fatback Band,
Dead Boys,
Animal Collective,
The Happenings,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Litter,
Ronnie Foster,
Hoover, Hoover, Hoover, Hoover.
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.