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 Comoros and from New York.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 Captain Beefheart 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 The Durutti Column to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Wolf Eyes. All the underground hits.
All Trumans Water tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wally Richardson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
The Happenings,
Slave,
Zapp,
Crash Course in Science,
Index,
Eli Mardock,
The Motions,
China Crisis,
Marine Girls,
Isaac Hayes,
Talk Talk,
Scott Walker,
Mandrill,
Bluetip,
Sight & Sound,
Essential Logic,
Minutemen,
Cymande,
John Holt,
Sister Nancy,
Althea and Donna,
Tres Demented,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Schoolly D,
X-Ray Spex,
Ponytail,
Scrapy,
Peter and Kerry,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Accadde A,
Radio Birdman,
Bill Near,
Alison Limerick,
Derrick May,
Visage,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
OOIOO,
X-101,
Fad Gadget,
Rotary Connection,
U.S. Maple,
Lebanon Hanover,
K-Klass,
Donald Byrd,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Shadows of Knight,
Boredoms,
Monks,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Piero Umiliani,
Prince Buster,
Deadbeat,
E-Dancer,
Amazonics,
Anakelly,
Infiniti,
Rapeman,
Q65,
Kevin Saunderson,
Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange.
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.