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 Burkina and from Hong Kong.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Charles Mingus to the disco 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 Maurizio. All the underground hits.
All Electric Prunes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Osbourne 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a F. McDonald record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Laurel Aitken,
Boz Scaggs,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Scion,
The Misunderstood,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
John Foxx,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Angels of Light,
Crash Course in Science,
Joe Finger,
The Fire Engines,
Dual Sessions,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bootsy Collins,
Blancmange,
Au Pairs,
The Busters,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Altered Images,
The Pop Group,
T.S.O.L.,
Drexciya,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Fela Kuti,
Judy Mowatt,
La Düsseldorf,
Hoover,
Marc Almond,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Dennis Brown,
The Moleskins,
Robert Wyatt,
Joy Division,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gang Green,
Ornette Coleman,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Model 500,
David McCallum,
KRS-One,
Gong,
Sister Nancy,
Barrington Levy,
The Blues Magoos,
Japan,
Sun Ra,
Public Image Ltd.,
Banda Bassotti,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ludus,
Ultra Naté,
Hashim,
Gregory Isaacs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Rod Modell,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Avey Tare,
The Real Kids,
The Detroit Cobras,
Masters at Work,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Patti Smith,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.