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 Cape Verde and from Manila.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 The Zeros to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 H. Thieme. All the underground hits.
All Yellowson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Shuggie Otis 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Bar-Kays,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
China Crisis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Altered Images,
Robert Hood,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Move,
Sun Ra,
The Count Five,
Gang of Four,
Flamin' Groovies,
A Certain Ratio,
Dennis Brown,
Lou Reed,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Black Flag,
ABC,
Sixth Finger,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Funky Four + One,
Bronski Beat,
Ronnie Foster,
Dead Boys,
James White and The Blacks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Ornette Coleman,
K-Klass,
Duran Duran,
Oblivians,
Sarah Menescal,
Saccharine Trust,
Q and Not U,
Severed Heads,
Gang Green,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Pretty Things,
Ludus,
Goldenarms,
Tres Demented,
The Young Rascals,
Deepchord,
Donny Hathaway,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
London Community Gospel Choir,
The Associates,
Colin Newman,
Joyce Sims,
Fatback Band,
Sight & Sound,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Offenders,
The Stooges,
The Tremeloes,
Reagan Youth,
The Raincoats,
H. Thieme,
Jesper Dahlback,
Panda Bear,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Tim Buckley,
a-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha.
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.