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 Barbados and from Stockholm.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 Easy Going to the punk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Lou Christie tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Move record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed & John Cale record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
David Bowie,
Interpol,
Metal Thangz,
Blancmange,
Matthew Halsall,
ABC,
Avey Tare,
Byron Stingily,
Camouflage,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Spandau Ballet,
Black Flag,
Ohio Players,
Section 25,
Minny Pops,
Brand Nubian,
Jerry's Kids,
the Germs,
B.T. Express,
Quantec,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Alton Ellis,
Alphaville,
Mission of Burma,
Jandek,
Kerrie Biddell,
Inner City,
Grey Daturas,
Aloha Tigers,
The American Breed,
Soft Machine,
Severed Heads,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sexual Harrassment,
Boz Scaggs,
The Tremeloes,
the Slits,
The Count Five,
Wasted Youth,
Marshall Jefferson,
Colin Newman,
D'Angelo,
Fatback Band,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Surgeon,
James White and The Blacks,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Anthony Braxton,
Little Man,
Pantytec,
The Star Department,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Lyres,
The United States of America,
The Birthday Party,
Harry Pussy,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Marcia Griffiths,
Arab on Radar,
Electric Prunes,
Tropical Tobacco,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Pet Shop Boys.
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.