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 Monaco and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the güiro 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 The Monochrome Set to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Motorama. All the underground hits.
All Girls At Our Best! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reagan Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Faraquet,
Grauzone,
Lou Christie,
LL Cool J,
The Black Dice,
Dennis Brown,
ABC,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Trojans,
Jacob Miller,
David McCallum,
Kerrie Biddell,
Skriet,
The Five Americans,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Throbbing Gristle,
D'Angelo,
Roxette,
Panda Bear,
Letta Mbulu,
Nick Fraelich,
Bluetip,
Eric B and Rakim,
Cymande,
the Swans,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kas Product,
Dorothy Ashby,
Arthur Verocai,
Bob Dylan,
the Slits,
The Human League,
the Fania All-Stars,
the Germs,
Darondo,
Boogie Down Productions,
Dual Sessions,
Lyres,
Pharoah Sanders,
Junior Murvin,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Nico,
Anakelly,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
ABBA,
Cecil Taylor,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
The Red Krayola,
Stetsasonic,
Adolescents,
Pantytec,
Crispian St. Peters,
Altered Images,
Crooked Eye,
Faust,
Nik Kershaw,
Soulsonic Force,
Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk, Talk Talk.
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.