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 Mauritius and from Glasgow.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 oboe 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 Flipper to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 L. Decosne. All the underground hits.
All Con Funk Shun tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Boogie Down Productions 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Chris Corsano record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
the Germs,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ossler,
Depeche Mode,
Don Cherry,
Pussy Galore,
Glambeats Corp.,
Supertramp,
Toni Rubio,
Soul II Soul,
Alton Ellis,
Sexual Harrassment,
DNA,
The Monochrome Set,
Ludus,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Wally Richardson,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
John Coltrane,
Byron Stingily,
The Black Dice,
Drive Like Jehu,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Matthew Halsall,
Jacob Miller,
Camberwell Now,
Matthew Bourne,
The Grass Roots,
Das Ding,
Cheater Slicks,
Minny Pops,
The Skatalites,
Whodini,
Ohio Players,
Brothers Johnson,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Metal Thangz,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sister Nancy,
Blossom Toes,
Ituana,
Cecil Taylor,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Dirtbombs,
Quadrant,
Gang Starr,
The Real Kids,
Dual Sessions,
The Velvet Underground,
Visage,
Lalo Schifrin,
Anthony Braxton,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Shoche,
Eric B and Rakim,
Delon & Dalcan,
Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez.
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.