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 Seychelles and from Beijing.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Spokane.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Strawberry Alarm Clock to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All F. McDonald tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skarface 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 an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pantytec,
Spoonie Gee,
The Monks,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Music Machine,
Flash Fearless,
Maurizio,
The Wake,
Make Up,
Anthony Braxton,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Toasters,
Minnie Riperton,
Dorothy Ashby,
Saccharine Trust,
Motorama,
Index,
Cheater Slicks,
Lou Reed,
The Gladiators,
Vainqueur,
Aswad,
Stiv Bators,
Joe Smooth,
Dead Boys,
Jawbox,
Echospace,
New Order,
Bauhaus,
EPMD,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Eve St. Jones,
Sugar Minott,
Young Marble Giants,
T.S.O.L.,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Organ,
Eric Dolphy,
Fad Gadget,
The Cowsills,
Q and Not U,
Donny Hathaway,
The Selecter,
Au Pairs,
The Human League,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
DJ Style,
Qualms,
T. Rex,
Joe Finger,
Thompson Twins,
The Moleskins,
The Angels of Light,
Lightning Bolt,
CMW,
Magazine,
Throbbing Gristle,
Urselle,
Newcleus,
The Happenings,
Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection.
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.