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 Uzbekistan and from Shanghai.
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 1965 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Josef K to the funk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Robert Hood. All the underground hits.
All Livin' Joy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heavy D & The Boyz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a E-Dancer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
CMW,
Gang of Four,
Funkadelic,
K-Klass,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Gang Starr,
Von Mondo,
The Star Department,
The Dave Clark Five,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
DNA,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Warsaw,
Matthew Halsall,
Hardrive,
The Litter,
Ice-T,
Scan 7,
Hashim,
The Standells,
Eli Mardock,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Jacques Brel,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Scrapy,
Leonard Cohen,
Flash Fearless,
Guru Guru,
Cymande,
Toni Rubio,
Half Japanese,
Davy DMX,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Brick,
Bobby Byrd,
the Slits,
Circle Jerks,
John Lydon,
The Toasters,
Ultimate Spinach,
Stetsasonic,
Monolake,
Amon Düül,
Pere Ubu,
Newcleus,
The Smoke,
Roger Hodgson,
Absolute Body Control,
Robert Görl,
The Modern Lovers,
Vladislav Delay,
The Electric Prunes,
Kurtis Blow,
Kaleidoscope,
UT,
Michelle Simonal,
Mary Jane Girls,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Model 500,
Shuggie Otis,
The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs, The Golliwogs.
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.