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 Ghana and from New York.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Gabor Szabo to the funk 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 Negative Approach. All the underground hits.
All The Martian tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Animal Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kango’s Stein Massive record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Althea and Donna,
Rhythm & Sound,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Marmalade,
Letta Mbulu,
Donny Hathaway,
The Motions,
Andrew Hill,
June Days,
The Index,
The Sisters of Mercy,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Eurythmics,
R.M.O.,
Marine Girls,
Amon Düül,
Infiniti,
Popol Vuh,
Q65,
Barclay James Harvest,
Moebius,
Vainqueur,
Rekid,
Wolf Eyes,
The Gap Band,
Drexciya,
Freddie Wadling,
Black Pus,
Fear,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Nick Fraelich,
Girls At Our Best!,
Franke,
The Wake,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
the Swans,
The Young Rascals,
Nas,
Wings,
Metal Thangz,
Boogie Down Productions,
X-Ray Spex,
Piero Umiliani,
Crispy Ambulance,
Stereo Dub,
Mad Mike,
Johnny Clarke,
The Slits,
Wire,
The Offenders,
Electric Prunes,
The Buckinghams,
Joe Smooth,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Basic Channel,
Cluster,
Soft Cell,
Hasil Adkins,
Public Enemy,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Stiv Bators,
F. McDonald, F. McDonald, F. McDonald, F. McDonald.
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.