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 Mali and from Lille.
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 Columbus and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Fat Boys 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 Stockholm Monsters. All the underground hits.
All The Durutti Column tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monks 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott Heron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Angels of Light,
Dennis Brown,
Silicon Teens,
The Durutti Column,
Sun City Girls,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Lindisfarne,
The Smoke,
The Leaves,
Liliput,
Grandmaster Flash,
Japan,
Negative Approach,
The New Christs,
Lou Christie,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Stereo Dub,
Duran Duran,
The Beau Brummels,
Aswad,
Jacques Brel,
Niagra,
John Cale,
Pantytec,
Byron Stingily,
Tres Demented,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Nils Olav,
Godley & Creme,
Bush Tetras,
Roxette,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Count Five,
Cheater Slicks,
Suicide,
The Music Machine,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jandek,
Kurtis Blow,
Icehouse,
Soul Sonic Force,
Leonard Cohen,
The Cowsills,
Gang Starr,
David McCallum,
the Sonics,
Yusef Lateef,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Slits,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Lyres,
Pagans,
Johnny Clarke,
Lucky Dragons,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ituana,
Popol Vuh,
Clear Light,
Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza.
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.