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 Philippines and from Seoul.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 snare 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 Boredoms to the rock 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 The Offenders. All the underground hits.
All Excepter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ohio Players record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Star Department record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang Gang Dance,
Mad Mike,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Connie Case,
Prince Buster,
Danielle Patucci,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
June of 44,
F. McDonald,
Loose Ends,
Crime,
The American Breed,
Harmonia,
Frankie Knuckles,
Black Sheep,
June Days,
Al Stewart,
X-101,
Faust,
Alice Coltrane,
The Residents,
the Slits,
Vainqueur,
Angry Samoans,
Fatback Band,
Motorama,
Ralphi Rosario,
Judy Mowatt,
Jeff Mills,
Junior Murvin,
The Seeds,
Camberwell Now,
The Electric Prunes,
Soft Machine,
Lyres,
The Slits,
The Real Kids,
Freddie Wadling,
Sex Pistols,
The Angels of Light,
Suburban Knight,
Dave Gahan,
Scan 7,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
PIL,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Mojo Men,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Second Layer,
The Skatalites,
The Doors,
Howard Jones,
Alphaville,
Adolescents,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Qualms,
Curtis Mayfield,
Delta 5,
Isaac Hayes,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Flash.
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.