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 Barbados and from Hong Kong.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Negative Approach to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Dave Gahan. All the underground hits.
All Au Pairs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Oneida record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Slave,
James White and The Blacks,
Minor Threat,
Accadde A,
Marvin Gaye,
Iggy Pop,
Kerrie Biddell,
48th St. Collective,
Sällskapet,
Outsiders,
Patti Smith,
Lindisfarne,
Youth Brigade,
The Index,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Invisible,
Ornette Coleman,
Mo-Dettes,
Joey Negro,
Tomorrow,
Eden Ahbez,
Lou Christie,
The Fuzztones,
Supertramp,
The Smoke,
Max Romeo,
Ituana,
the Fania All-Stars,
Oneida,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Slits,
Stereo Dub,
The Red Krayola,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ronnie Foster,
Tim Buckley,
Mary Jane Girls,
June Days,
Drexciya,
Japan,
Brothers Johnson,
Terrestrial Tones,
John Lydon,
New York Dolls,
Lalo Schifrin,
Black Flag,
Freddie Wadling,
Malaria!,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Grandmaster Flash,
Index,
Con Funk Shun,
MDC,
Masters at Work,
Trumans Water,
Anakelly,
The Grass Roots,
Jacob Miller,
Harmonia,
The Smiths,
Sarah Menescal,
Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt.
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.