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 Paraguay and from Bologna.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 theremin 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 Rod Modell to the punk 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 Gang Gang Dance. All the underground hits.
All The Doors tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Flesh Eaters 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 marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Tremeloes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donny Hathaway,
Blancmange,
Brick,
Chris Corsano,
Mars,
Terry Callier,
Gong,
The Trojans,
Niagra,
Big Daddy Kane,
Barrington Levy,
Arthur Verocai,
Lucky Dragons,
Sällskapet,
Funky Four + One,
Matthew Halsall,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Agitation Free,
The Victims,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Tim Buckley,
David Axelrod,
Sight & Sound,
Essential Logic,
Tropical Tobacco,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Wasted Youth,
Gil Scott Heron,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Velvet Underground,
Tears for Fears,
Marvin Gaye,
Charles Mingus,
Derrick May,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Zero Boys,
Steve Hackett,
The Modern Lovers,
Scrapy,
Deadbeat,
Masters at Work,
Vainqueur,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Blackbyrds,
Patti Smith,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Grauzone,
Con Funk Shun,
Newcleus,
The Monks,
Delon & Dalcan,
New Order,
Surgeon,
Bill Near,
Juan Atkins,
These Immortal Souls,
Piero Umiliani,
The Gap Band,
Pulsallama,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Magma,
Nation of Ulysses,
Intrusion,
Crime, Crime, Crime, Crime.
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.