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 Sri Lanka and from Winnipeg.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 arpeggiator 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 FM Einheit to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Wolf Eyes. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Delta 5 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 theremin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marc Almond record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Anthony Braxton,
Letta Mbulu,
Jacob Miller,
The Flesh Eaters,
Talk Talk,
Althea and Donna,
The Dave Clark Five,
Faraquet,
The Barracudas,
Brothers Johnson,
Amon Düül II,
The Gun Club,
Rod Modell,
Electric Prunes,
The Stooges,
Faust,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Don Cherry,
The Fuzztones,
Khruangbin,
The Victims,
Vainqueur,
Excepter,
The Cramps,
Fad Gadget,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Vladislav Delay,
Tomorrow,
Minutemen,
a-ha,
Marmalade,
Tommy Roe,
Gang Green,
Dawn Penn,
Siglo XX,
Anakelly,
The Move,
B.T. Express,
Camberwell Now,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Young Marble Giants,
CMW,
Delta 5,
Kool Moe Dee,
Thompson Twins,
Bob Dylan,
The Names,
Joey Negro,
Howard Jones,
Rufus Thomas,
The Real Kids,
Marvin Gaye,
The Buckinghams,
Frankie Knuckles,
Tres Demented,
Ronan,
Jeru the Damaja,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Offenders,
48th St. Collective,
Von Mondo,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.