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 South Sudan 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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Robert Palmer 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 X-101 to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 The Happenings. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Junior Murvin record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Near record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Juan Atkins,
Bobby Sherman,
Frankie Knuckles,
Max Romeo,
The Gun Club,
The Tremeloes,
Charles Mingus,
Section 25,
Dennis Brown,
Bronski Beat,
Q and Not U,
ABC,
Josef K,
Pharoah Sanders,
Pantaleimon,
Janne Schatter,
Easy Going,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Anthony Braxton,
Negative Approach,
Blake Baxter,
The Residents,
Joensuu 1685,
Procol Harum,
Robert Hood,
The Walker Brothers,
Reuben Wilson,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Mars,
The Monks,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Matthew Bourne,
Pierre Henry,
Big Daddy Kane,
Japan,
Letta Mbulu,
Youth Brigade,
Gang Green,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Flash Fearless,
Absolute Body Control,
New Age Steppers,
Joey Negro,
Lyres,
The Doobie Brothers,
Scrapy,
Fat Boys,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Agitation Free,
Gichy Dan,
Fluxion,
Camouflage,
The Flesh Eaters,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Crash Course in Science,
Alphaville,
Thompson Twins,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Alton Ellis,
Peter & Gordon,
The Techniques,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.