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 Armenia and from Tokyo.
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 1964 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 organ 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 Liaisons Dangereuses to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Harry Pussy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Toasters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Silicon Teens record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sparks,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Standells,
Man Eating Sloth,
Magazine,
Aloha Tigers,
Cybotron,
Model 500,
Niagra,
Faust,
The Happenings,
Scratch Acid,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
FM Einheit,
Pantaleimon,
Warren Ellis,
Tim Buckley,
Delon & Dalcan,
Rhythm & Sound,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Lakeside,
H. Thieme,
Eric Dolphy,
Curtis Mayfield,
Jeru the Damaja,
Clear Light,
The Fire Engines,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Moby Grape,
Interpol,
The Mummies,
The Techniques,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Dennis Brown,
Harpers Bizarre,
AZ,
Oneida,
kango's stein massive,
Steve Hackett,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Vogues,
Letta Mbulu,
The Grass Roots,
Terrestrial Tones,
Aswad,
The Cosmic Jokers,
X-101,
The Blues Magoos,
The Star Department,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Black Dice,
Sound Behaviour,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Monochrome Set,
Johnny Clarke,
Mo-Dettes,
Crispian St. Peters,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Procol Harum,
In Retrospect,
Half Japanese,
The Index, The Index, The Index, The Index.
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.