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 Equatorial Guinea and from Copenhagen.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 clarinet 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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx. All the underground hits.
All Jacques Brel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jimmy McGriff record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Monks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jeff Lynne,
The Names,
The Skatalites,
Saccharine Trust,
Boogie Down Productions,
Mark Hollis,
Gang Starr,
The American Breed,
Graham Central Station,
Morten Harket,
Ken Boothe,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Zero Boys,
Boz Scaggs,
Kayak,
Scrapy,
Suburban Knight,
Technova,
Davy DMX,
Freddie Wadling,
David Axelrod,
Godley & Creme,
Franke,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Buzzcocks,
Roxette,
Anakelly,
Goldenarms,
Tim Buckley,
Symarip,
Quando Quango,
E-Dancer,
Pantaleimon,
Rod Modell,
KRS-One,
Supertramp,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Toasters,
Organ,
The Vogues,
Rapeman,
Tres Demented,
Alice Coltrane,
Robert Wyatt,
Newcleus,
Maleditus Sound,
Underground Resistance,
Brothers Johnson,
Marvin Gaye,
Clear Light,
The Barracudas,
Angry Samoans,
Iggy Pop,
Kerri Chandler,
D'Angelo,
Wolf Eyes,
The Blackbyrds,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines.
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.