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 Edmonton.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Toronto.
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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Kings Of Tomorrow to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 New Order. All the underground hits.
All Archie Shepp tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bauhaus record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Carl Craig record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sonic Youth,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Frankie Knuckles,
Popol Vuh,
Scrapy,
Gil Scott Heron,
MC5,
Eric Copeland,
Angry Samoans,
Funkadelic,
Piero Umiliani,
Metal Thangz,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Cramps,
Black Sheep,
Interpol,
Groovy Waters,
Marc Almond,
Country Teasers,
Quantec,
Erykah Badu,
Oneida,
Gerry Rafferty,
Arcadia,
Harry Pussy,
Ten City,
Grandmaster Flash,
Wire,
Symarip,
X-Ray Spex,
Malaria!,
X-102,
Goldenarms,
Radiohead,
Television Personalities,
The Golliwogs,
Visage,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Barracudas,
The Angels of Light,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Bill Wells,
Ponytail,
Tom Boy,
Buzzcocks,
the Slits,
Deadbeat,
The Fall,
Cymande,
The Blackbyrds,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Tubeway Army,
Chrome,
Pet Shop Boys,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Juan Atkins,
Donny Hathaway,
Magma,
The Trojans,
One Last Wish,
The Happenings,
Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay, Vladislav Delay.
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.