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 Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Sao Paulo.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Magma to the grime 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 Qualms. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every London Community Gospel Choir 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed,
Jawbox,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Scan 7,
The Fall,
The Slackers,
Ralphi Rosario,
Fear,
Yusef Lateef,
Laurel Aitken,
Arcadia,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Los Fastidios,
Ohio Players,
Gichy Dan,
Urselle,
Thee Headcoats,
Stockholm Monsters,
Mary Jane Girls,
Prince Buster,
Kenny Larkin,
Byron Stingily,
Janne Schatter,
Pulsallama,
The Velvet Underground,
the Slits,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Henry Cow,
Mandrill,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lalann,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Colin Newman,
Main Source,
Smog,
Black Moon,
Sun City Girls,
Johnny Osbourne,
Easy Going,
Iggy Pop,
The Mummies,
Japan,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
X-Ray Spex,
The Trojans,
Rod Modell,
Donny Hathaway,
The United States of America,
John Coltrane,
Absolute Body Control,
the Germs,
Pet Shop Boys,
Wings,
Blake Baxter,
The Saints,
Organ,
The Motions,
Delta 5,
The Wake,
Roxy Music,
Arab on Radar,
Dorothy Ashby,
Marvin Gaye,
The Durutti Column,
The Index, The Index, The Index, The Index.
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.