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 Germany 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 1960 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 Country Teasers to the crunk 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 John Coltrane. All the underground hits.
All Fifty Foot Hose tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Judy Mowatt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bauhaus,
Minnie Riperton,
The Remains,
Peter & Gordon,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Lalann,
MDC,
James Chance & The Contortions,
June Days,
Kool Moe Dee,
Skaos,
Lightning Bolt,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sight & Sound,
World's Most,
Grandmaster Flash,
Connie Case,
Dead Boys,
The Happenings,
Mary Jane Girls,
Clear Light,
John Cale,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Pantaleimon,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
The Velvet Underground,
Thee Headcoats,
Saccharine Trust,
Harry Pussy,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Leonard Cohen,
David Axelrod,
Franke,
Japan,
Moebius,
Eden Ahbez,
Bronski Beat,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Swell Maps,
Glambeats Corp.,
Absolute Body Control,
Boogie Down Productions,
Hoover,
Main Source,
Gong,
Skriet,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Charles Mingus,
John Coltrane,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
a-ha,
The Invisible,
Cluster,
Unwound,
Animal Collective,
Colin Newman,
Eric Dolphy,
Von Mondo,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Television,
Wolf Eyes,
ABBA,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.