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 Finland 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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu to the rock 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 Slave. All the underground hits.
All Boz Scaggs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Blackbyrds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Royal Family And The Poor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hashim,
Cymande,
Sam Rivers,
Yellowson,
Au Pairs,
Moebius,
Urselle,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
cv313,
Section 25,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Grey Daturas,
Warren Ellis,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Morten Harket,
The Cramps,
Marcia Griffiths,
Los Fastidios,
A Certain Ratio,
B.T. Express,
Marc Almond,
Organ,
Barbara Tucker,
Thompson Twins,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lower 48,
The Associates,
Sparks,
Blossom Toes,
Amon Düül,
Kerri Chandler,
Slave,
Delta 5,
Alice Coltrane,
Swans,
T.S.O.L.,
Josef K,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bobby Womack,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Ohio Players,
FM Einheit,
Spoonie Gee,
Masters at Work,
Lalo Schifrin,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Country Teasers,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
X-Ray Spex,
Flash Fearless,
Erykah Badu,
Todd Rundgren,
The Zeros,
Joy Division,
Pet Shop Boys,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Boredoms,
Swell Maps,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Gichy Dan,
Sound Behaviour,
Reagan Youth,
Delon & Dalcan,
Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy.
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.