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 Rwanda and from Lyon.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Trumans Water to the grime 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 Eric Copeland. All the underground hits.
All Bill Wells tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythm & Sound 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scrapy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Index,
Isaac Hayes,
Joe Finger,
The Young Rascals,
John Holt,
8 Eyed Spy,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Au Pairs,
Sugar Minott,
Vainqueur,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Moody Blues,
Nick Fraelich,
Guru Guru,
Animal Collective,
Audionom,
Byron Stingily,
Livin' Joy,
Marc Almond,
The Cosmic Jokers,
X-Ray Spex,
Nas,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Fela Kuti,
Aswad,
The Golliwogs,
The Flesh Eaters,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Altered Images,
X-102,
Faust,
The Busters,
Duran Duran,
DNA,
The Skatalites,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Depeche Mode,
Ronan,
Nik Kershaw,
The Saints,
Joensuu 1685,
Drexciya,
Rapeman,
The Selecter,
The Walker Brothers,
Zapp,
Electric Prunes,
John Foxx,
The Dave Clark Five,
Kurtis Blow,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Underground Resistance,
Slave,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Max Romeo,
Accadde A,
The Cure,
Deakin,
Gang of Four,
Erasure,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.