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 Cape Verde and from Shanghai.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 mellotron 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 Flash Fearless to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Adolescents. All the underground hits.
All Tomorrow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang of Four record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Negative Approach,
Accadde A,
Pulsallama,
Excepter,
Glenn Branca,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Pretty Things,
Cluster,
The Monks,
New Age Steppers,
Symarip,
Roxette,
Gregory Isaacs,
Stockholm Monsters,
Davy DMX,
Tommy Roe,
Malaria!,
Groovy Waters,
The Trojans,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Procol Harum,
Eden Ahbez,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Echospace,
The Count Five,
Depeche Mode,
John Foxx,
The Shadows of Knight,
Smog,
The Sound,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Dirtbombs,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Gastr Del Sol,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sixth Finger,
The Doors,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kerrie Biddell,
Wire,
Radiopuhelimet,
EPMD,
Ralphi Rosario,
Aloha Tigers,
Ornette Coleman,
Moby Grape,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Fall,
Aswad,
Terry Callier,
Visage,
New Order,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Black Pus,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Slick Rick,
Delon & Dalcan,
June Days,
The Saints,
FM Einheit,
Nik Kershaw,
Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks.
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.