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 Macedonia and from Mumbai.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 snare 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 James Chance & The Contortions to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Ultra Naté. All the underground hits.
All The Kinks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hasil Adkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Dirtbombs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Motions,
The Toasters,
Gerry Rafferty,
Easy Going,
The Five Americans,
Bronski Beat,
Scratch Acid,
The Barracudas,
Ituana,
Liliput,
Au Pairs,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Boz Scaggs,
Joe Finger,
the Association,
The Durutti Column,
Big Daddy Kane,
Johnny Clarke,
Gabor Szabo,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Busters,
The Red Krayola,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Barbara Tucker,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Gang of Four,
Lebanon Hanover,
Godley & Creme,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Monochrome Set,
Silicon Teens,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Blackbyrds,
Con Funk Shun,
Index,
T. Rex,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sonny Sharrock,
Stetsasonic,
Excepter,
Sound Behaviour,
Amon Düül II,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Popol Vuh,
Lee Hazlewood,
This Heat,
T.S.O.L.,
Accadde A,
the Bar-Kays,
Minor Threat,
Bob Dylan,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Lower 48,
The Happenings,
The Trojans,
Barrington Levy,
Adolescents,
New York Dolls,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Electric Prunes,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Laurel Aitken,
Reagan Youth,
Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton, Minnie Riperton.
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.