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 Cape Verde and from Philadelphia.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Funky Four + One to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Toasters. All the underground hits.
All Japan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Starr 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roger Hodgson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jimmy McGriff,
Alison Limerick,
Tommy Roe,
Kerrie Biddell,
Nation of Ulysses,
Stereo Dub,
Ken Boothe,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lebanon Hanover,
Interpol,
Electric Prunes,
Monolake,
The Mummies,
Pharoah Sanders,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Marvin Gaye,
Country Teasers,
Liliput,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Fad Gadget,
Gabor Szabo,
Amazonics,
Reagan Youth,
The Buckinghams,
Roxette,
The Offenders,
Marcia Griffiths,
Symarip,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Searchers,
The Gap Band,
Jesper Dahlback,
Heaven 17,
Joy Division,
Skaos,
The Blackbyrds,
Tomorrow,
Bad Manners,
Slave,
Mary Jane Girls,
Amon Düül II,
Gong,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Janne Schatter,
Suburban Knight,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Faraquet,
The Residents,
R.M.O.,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Zero Boys,
Buzzcocks,
The Cure,
Spandau Ballet,
Soft Machine,
Neil Young,
Prince Buster,
the Soft Cell,
Q and Not U,
David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod, David Axelrod.
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.