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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Hong Kong.
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 1967 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 808 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 Black Sheep to the rock 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 David McCallum. All the underground hits.
All The Last Poets tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lungfish record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Gang of Four,
Ludus,
Cheater Slicks,
Metal Thangz,
Andrew Hill,
The Beau Brummels,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Crispy Ambulance,
Saccharine Trust,
Franke,
John Coltrane,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Raincoats,
the Bar-Kays,
Japan,
Scientists,
Eli Mardock,
Toni Rubio,
Juan Atkins,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Flash Fearless,
Outsiders,
Quando Quango,
Amon Düül,
New York Dolls,
the Association,
Don Cherry,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Section 25,
The Seeds,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Rapeman,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Khruangbin,
Connie Case,
The New Christs,
Accadde A,
the Normal,
Severed Heads,
Alton Ellis,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Bizarre Inc.,
Sam Rivers,
DJ Style,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Stiv Bators,
Chris & Cosey,
Faust,
Hardrive,
These Immortal Souls,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Scratch Acid,
Excepter,
The Human League,
Sight & Sound,
Circle Jerks,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Fela Kuti,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Smog,
K-Klass,
Soft Cell,
Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté, Ultra Naté.
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.