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 Somalia and from Winnipeg.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 mellotron 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 Zero Boys 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 The Dead C. All the underground hits.
All Sex Pistols tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gong record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Patti Smith,
D'Angelo,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Quando Quango,
Fluxion,
Alton Ellis,
Marc Almond,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gang Gang Dance,
Glambeats Corp.,
Qualms,
Barrington Levy,
The Offenders,
Minnie Riperton,
Au Pairs,
Das Ding,
Outsiders,
The Pretty Things,
Pet Shop Boys,
The United States of America,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Make Up,
Trumans Water,
the Fania All-Stars,
A Certain Ratio,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Maleditus Sound,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bobbi Humphrey,
FM Einheit,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Los Fastidios,
Sarah Menescal,
Delta 5,
The Names,
Q65,
The Velvet Underground,
Ten City,
Bluetip,
Black Moon,
The Monks,
Grauzone,
The Fuzztones,
Malaria!,
Audionom,
Jesper Dahlback,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Carl Craig,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Swans,
Skaos,
the Swans,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lou Reed,
Roy Ayers,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Masters at Work,
Eric B and Rakim,
Darondo, Darondo, Darondo, Darondo.
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.