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 Germany and from Woodstock.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 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 Quantec to the funk 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 Michelle Simonal. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eurythmics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Babytalk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Moody Blues,
Man Parrish,
Suicide,
The Move,
Electric Prunes,
Pulsallama,
The Selecter,
Fluxion,
Marcia Griffiths,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Gories,
Soul II Soul,
Throbbing Gristle,
Banda Bassotti,
Pole,
Harmonia,
Thee Headcoats,
Michelle Simonal,
The Monochrome Set,
Tomorrow,
Masters at Work,
Alphaville,
Tubeway Army,
Kas Product,
Gil Scott Heron,
Jerry's Kids,
Scientists,
Donny Hathaway,
Godley & Creme,
Simply Red,
Eric Copeland,
Crispy Ambulance,
Ornette Coleman,
Guru Guru,
Sonic Youth,
Soul Sonic Force,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ohio Players,
Todd Rundgren,
Hasil Adkins,
The Kinks,
Lou Christie,
Severed Heads,
the Bar-Kays,
Dawn Penn,
Silicon Teens,
Iggy Pop,
Wally Richardson,
Cybotron,
Gong,
Easy Going,
K-Klass,
Pagans,
Derrick Morgan,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Trojans,
The Shadows of Knight,
David McCallum,
Sixth Finger,
Dual Sessions,
Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya, Drexciya.
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.