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 Uruguay and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Slackers to the techno kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Cybotron. All the underground hits.
All Desert Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sisters of Mercy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
Stockholm Monsters,
Lakeside,
Joensuu 1685,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Aswad,
The Vogues,
Alice Coltrane,
Drexciya,
The Buckinghams,
The Searchers,
The Index,
Robert Wyatt,
The Zeros,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Reuben Wilson,
Matthew Bourne,
The Walker Brothers,
Cameo,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Peter & Gordon,
Stereo Dub,
Lalann,
Little Man,
Rapeman,
Inner City,
June Days,
Half Japanese,
Neu!,
Pussy Galore,
New Age Steppers,
Flamin' Groovies,
Chrome,
Index,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Sisters of Mercy,
the Association,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Grass Roots,
X-101,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lou Reed,
LL Cool J,
Roger Hodgson,
The Gladiators,
The Moleskins,
Todd Rundgren,
Bush Tetras,
Arcadia,
Kerri Chandler,
Subhumans,
Kenny Larkin,
Dawn Penn,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Organ,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Joyce Sims,
Guru Guru,
Interpol,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.