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 Sierra Leone and from Johannesburg.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mexico City 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Major Organ And The Adding Machine to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Bobby Womack. All the underground hits.
All Wolf Eyes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Busters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Morten Harket record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gastr Del Sol,
Joensuu 1685,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
UT,
Al Stewart,
John Coltrane,
Warren Ellis,
Delta 5,
The Buckinghams,
Soul II Soul,
Pole,
Bronski Beat,
Blancmange,
Agent Orange,
June Days,
AZ,
Gil Scott Heron,
Whodini,
Monolake,
Kevin Saunderson,
Skriet,
Marshall Jefferson,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Skatalites,
Soulsonic Force,
48th St. Collective,
Don Cherry,
David Bowie,
Lou Reed,
Terrestrial Tones,
Quadrant,
Connie Case,
Deepchord,
Aural Exciters,
Fela Kuti,
Trumans Water,
The Monochrome Set,
Siglo XX,
Flipper,
X-101,
The Cowsills,
Duran Duran,
Dawn Penn,
X-102,
DJ Style,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Offenders,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Curtis Mayfield,
Reagan Youth,
A Certain Ratio,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Smiths,
Au Pairs,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Johnny Clarke,
David Axelrod,
The Detroit Cobras,
Cymande,
Funky Four + One,
Harmonia,
Aswad, Aswad, Aswad, Aswad.
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.