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 Azerbaijan and from Seoul.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 rhodes 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 Intrusion to the grime 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 Electric Light Orchestra. All the underground hits.
All B.T. Express tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lafayette Afro Rock Band 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 mellotron and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a DNA record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Flipper,
Procol Harum,
Mr. Review,
Dorothy Ashby,
Saccharine Trust,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Amazonics,
Ronan,
Nils Olav,
the Sonics,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Sällskapet,
Kevin Saunderson,
Johnny Osbourne,
Janne Schatter,
Erasure,
The Gun Club,
Throbbing Gristle,
Cheater Slicks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Pierre Henry,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Busters,
Anthony Braxton,
Second Layer,
Bang On A Can,
Pussy Galore,
Kurtis Blow,
Jesper Dahlback,
Rapeman,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bobby Womack,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Desert Stars,
Excepter,
Gregory Isaacs,
Subhumans,
Sandy B,
the Fania All-Stars,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Mojo Men,
Theoretical Girls,
Blake Baxter,
Jandek,
Ludus,
Inner City,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Carl Craig,
Joey Negro,
Hot Snakes,
Fela Kuti,
The Electric Prunes,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Gabor Szabo,
B.T. Express,
JFA,
Bill Near,
Echospace,
a-ha,
Peter and Kerry,
Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys, Zero Boys.
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.