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 Cambodia and from Hong Kong.
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 Bremen and Edmonton.
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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Swell Maps to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All Clear Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Holt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kas Product record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Be Bop Deluxe,
Letta Mbulu,
The Knickerbockers,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ponytail,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Sarah Menescal,
Darondo,
Eve St. Jones,
Cameo,
Yaz,
Ice-T,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Von Mondo,
Bobby Sherman,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Danielle Patucci,
Mark Hollis,
Wally Richardson,
the Germs,
The Litter,
Sister Nancy,
Gang of Four,
The Five Americans,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Accadde A,
The Gladiators,
Yellowson,
The United States of America,
Barclay James Harvest,
Sun City Girls,
Sexual Harrassment,
Kerri Chandler,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Bluetip,
Sam Rivers,
Juan Atkins,
Laurel Aitken,
Outsiders,
Eddi Front,
Metal Thangz,
Bill Wells,
Ornette Coleman,
Frankie Knuckles,
Rotary Connection,
Derrick May,
Arcadia,
Joey Negro,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Fire Engines,
Ultimate Spinach,
UT,
Alison Limerick,
The Slits,
Sugar Minott,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Rufus Thomas,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Joyce Sims,
Jeff Lynne,
Sällskapet,
John Foxx,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan, Derrick Morgan.
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.