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 Syria and from Lille.
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 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Lille.
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 theremin 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 Mark Hollis to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Lucky Dragons. All the underground hits.
All Harpers Bizarre tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Underground Resistance 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Slick Rick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Golliwogs,
Godley & Creme,
Kool Moe Dee,
Theoretical Girls,
Mission of Burma,
The Offenders,
Flipper,
D'Angelo,
DJ Style,
Marcia Griffiths,
Reagan Youth,
Make Up,
Pantaleimon,
Chris Corsano,
The Dead C,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
K-Klass,
Soft Cell,
Lou Reed,
A Certain Ratio,
The Blues Magoos,
Iggy Pop,
Bill Near,
Spandau Ballet,
June of 44,
Avey Tare,
Warren Ellis,
The Beau Brummels,
The Raincoats,
Danielle Patucci,
F. McDonald,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ituana,
Sam Rivers,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Marc Almond,
Cheater Slicks,
The Smiths,
FM Einheit,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Detroit Cobras,
Todd Terry,
ABC,
La Düsseldorf,
Wings,
The Fire Engines,
June Days,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Derrick Morgan,
New York Dolls,
Todd Rundgren,
The Last Poets,
Pulsallama,
Lou Christie,
The Happenings,
The Trojans,
X-101,
The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites, The Skatalites.
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.