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 Guinea-Bissau and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the güiro 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 Marvin Gaye to the techno 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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All The Music Machine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moody Blues 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cramps record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Vladislav Delay,
Faust,
Tommy Roe,
Aswad,
Boogie Down Productions,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
The Gap Band,
Franke,
Babytalk,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Litter,
Black Pus,
Infiniti,
The Blackbyrds,
Black Sheep,
The Durutti Column,
Masters at Work,
X-101,
Big Daddy Kane,
Charles Mingus,
Whodini,
Avey Tare,
The Offenders,
The Detroit Cobras,
CMW,
The Slits,
Wire,
Bush Tetras,
Soft Machine,
Crispy Ambulance,
Byron Stingily,
Japan,
Thompson Twins,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Sandy B,
New Age Steppers,
48th St. Collective,
Bluetip,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Evens,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Skarface,
Section 25,
Alphaville,
Negative Approach,
Barrington Levy,
Technova,
Derrick Morgan,
Harmonia,
Mary Jane Girls,
Johnny Clarke,
Bob Dylan,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Rakim,
Monolake,
The Sound,
Warren Ellis,
Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding.
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.