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 Cameroon and from Halifax.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 Lou Reed 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 R.M.O. to the rock kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Laurel Aitken tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Doobie Brothers 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Neil Young & Crazy Horse record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Idris Muhammad,
Yazoo,
Moby Grape,
The Mummies,
Slick Rick,
Drexciya,
Saccharine Trust,
T.S.O.L.,
The Dave Clark Five,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
New York Dolls,
Patti Smith,
This Heat,
Marcia Griffiths,
Skarface,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
the Fania All-Stars,
These Immortal Souls,
Sonny Sharrock,
Soft Machine,
Erykah Badu,
Barbara Tucker,
Neu!,
Organ,
Ronnie Foster,
Byron Stingily,
A Certain Ratio,
Thompson Twins,
Howard Jones,
The Electric Prunes,
Derrick May,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Funkadelic,
Neil Young,
Section 25,
Excepter,
Grey Daturas,
Girls At Our Best!,
Arab on Radar,
Sparks,
Gil Scott Heron,
Joensuu 1685,
Deepchord,
Masters at Work,
Minnie Riperton,
Absolute Body Control,
Flash Fearless,
Chris & Cosey,
Juan Atkins,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Ultra Naté,
The Raincoats,
Nico,
Au Pairs,
Das Ding,
Amon Düül,
Blake Baxter,
Traffic Nightmare,
Wire,
Kurtis Blow,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth.
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.