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 St Kitts & Nevis 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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Sugar Minott to the techno 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 The Residents. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Slits record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lindisfarne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Barracudas,
Franke,
The Happenings,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Neon Judgement,
The Remains,
Sarah Menescal,
Rufus Thomas,
James White and The Blacks,
The Fugs,
Gang Green,
Delta 5,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Pere Ubu,
The Knickerbockers,
Underground Resistance,
Judy Mowatt,
Lungfish,
Mission of Burma,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Mantronix,
Kerrie Biddell,
Symarip,
Jacob Miller,
The Busters,
Fear,
Man Eating Sloth,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Avey Tare,
Mary Jane Girls,
These Immortal Souls,
Panda Bear,
Nico,
Erasure,
Rapeman,
Subhumans,
Brothers Johnson,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Scratch Acid,
Mark Hollis,
Joe Smooth,
Brand Nubian,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Robert Hood,
The Cowsills,
The Evens,
Robert Görl,
Sparks,
Godley & Creme,
The Doors,
the Swans,
Banda Bassotti,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kas Product,
Fatback Band,
Saccharine Trust,
David Axelrod,
Kerri Chandler,
Lightning Bolt,
Hasil Adkins,
The Grass Roots,
Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes.
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.