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 Libya and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Radiohead to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Supertramp. All the underground hits.
All Public Image Ltd. tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sonics record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soft Cell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Trojans,
Subhumans,
Yazoo,
Mad Mike,
Ossler,
Cecil Taylor,
Robert Görl,
Bauhaus,
Infiniti,
Saccharine Trust,
The Monks,
Ronan,
The American Breed,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Tom Boy,
John Holt,
David McCallum,
Charles Mingus,
Ten City,
Heaven 17,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Dead C,
The Searchers,
JFA,
Das Ding,
Graham Central Station,
The Human League,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Rites of Spring,
DJ Sneak,
Gil Scott Heron,
Quando Quango,
Arthur Verocai,
The Busters,
The Sound,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
D'Angelo,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Mojo Men,
These Immortal Souls,
Fluxion,
Aural Exciters,
Essential Logic,
Camouflage,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Black Pus,
Chris Corsano,
Bronski Beat,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Martian,
Bill Near,
Ituana,
Crispy Ambulance,
Traffic Nightmare,
Dead Boys,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Wake,
Laurel Aitken,
FM Einheit,
Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs.
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.