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 Singapore and from Manchester.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 marimba 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 Cymande to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Crispian St. Peters. All the underground hits.
All The Kinks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dark Day 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Essential Logic,
Connie Case,
Outsiders,
Silicon Teens,
Freddie Wadling,
New Order,
Godley & Creme,
Black Bananas,
Wire,
Massinfluence,
Johnny Osbourne,
Gang of Four,
Wally Richardson,
Cecil Taylor,
Aswad,
Tommy Roe,
Zero Boys,
John Holt,
Infiniti,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Susan Cadogan,
Jesper Dahlback,
Bluetip,
Ludus,
David McCallum,
Colin Newman,
The Zeros,
Bobby Sherman,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Wake,
the Germs,
Amon Düül II,
Brass Construction,
Jeff Mills,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Slits,
A Certain Ratio,
Minnie Riperton,
the Soft Cell,
Boredoms,
Flash Fearless,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Marvin Gaye,
Charles Mingus,
Joe Finger,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Eurythmics,
The Smiths,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Pretty Things,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Trumans Water,
The Star Department,
The Mighty Diamonds,
the Swans,
Pole,
Isaac Hayes,
Ice-T,
Buzzcocks,
Black Sheep,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Shadows of Knight,
Television Personalities, Television Personalities, Television Personalities, Television Personalities.
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.