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 Iceland and from Beijing.
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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Calgary.
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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 London Community Gospel Choir to the jazz 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 Can. All the underground hits.
All Soul II Soul tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rapeman record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 snare and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rapeman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Brand Nubian,
The Detroit Cobras,
Bobby Byrd,
Ohio Players,
the Slits,
Janne Schatter,
Massinfluence,
FM Einheit,
David Axelrod,
Sparks,
The Move,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Q and Not U,
CMW,
Jandek,
The Remains,
the Fania All-Stars,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Alarm Clocks,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Graham Central Station,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Yazoo,
Flipper,
Dorothy Ashby,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Eli Mardock,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Roger Hodgson,
Visage,
Eric Dolphy,
Electric Prunes,
Lyres,
Cecil Taylor,
Nick Fraelich,
Mars,
Joey Negro,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Vladislav Delay,
Michelle Simonal,
Scott Walker,
Faust,
Liliput,
Toni Rubio,
Nico,
Silicon Teens,
Boz Scaggs,
MDC,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Jawbox,
The Techniques,
Roxette,
James White and The Blacks,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Gichy Dan,
Rapeman,
Pussy Galore,
Al Stewart,
Siglo XX,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.