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 Gambia 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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 harpsichord 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 The Martian to the funk 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 Soft Cell. All the underground hits.
All X-Ray Spex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a theremin and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fortunes,
Moss Icon,
Audionom,
Pere Ubu,
Soft Machine,
Janne Schatter,
Chris & Cosey,
A Certain Ratio,
Chrome,
Bronski Beat,
The Leaves,
Mary Jane Girls,
Tubeway Army,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Cymande,
The Sonics,
Radiohead,
The Doobie Brothers,
Oblivians,
Easy Going,
The Skatalites,
Rakim,
The American Breed,
Howard Jones,
Dorothy Ashby,
MC5,
Tommy Roe,
Albert Ayler,
Cecil Taylor,
Slave,
Mantronix,
The Seeds,
The Walker Brothers,
Kas Product,
Underground Resistance,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ultra Naté,
OOIOO,
Ralphi Rosario,
Marine Girls,
Shoche,
Scan 7,
Black Sheep,
The Misunderstood,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Sandy B,
Average White Band,
Funkadelic,
The Blues Magoos,
Smog,
The Moleskins,
Con Funk Shun,
Half Japanese,
Sam Rivers,
Aaron Thompson,
Brothers Johnson,
Arthur Verocai,
Gichy Dan,
Y Pants,
Magma,
Swell Maps,
Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell, Soft Cell.
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.