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 Korea North and from Mexico City.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Hardrive to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron. All the underground hits.
All Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Grass Roots record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Reagan Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Kayak,
Sarah Menescal,
Ken Boothe,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Count Five,
The Grass Roots,
Ten City,
Bronski Beat,
Ultra Naté,
The Monks,
Cymande,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Monolake,
Marvin Gaye,
T. Rex,
Fatback Band,
Little Man,
Eddi Front,
Crooked Eye,
Lou Christie,
Fat Boys,
Icehouse,
Jeff Lynne,
Jacques Brel,
The Barracudas,
Glenn Branca,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
10cc,
Man Eating Sloth,
Black Flag,
Sex Pistols,
Rufus Thomas,
James White and The Blacks,
Altered Images,
Robert Görl,
Mad Mike,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Mars,
Joy Division,
Skarface,
The Smiths,
Rosa Yemen,
Kevin Saunderson,
Pole,
Curtis Mayfield,
Y Pants,
Stockholm Monsters,
Agitation Free,
The Dirtbombs,
Eden Ahbez,
ABBA,
Pulsallama,
Yusef Lateef,
Masters at Work,
Nick Fraelich,
Chris & Cosey,
Groovy Waters,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Sound,
The Gun Club,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins, Thompson Twins.
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.