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 Madrid.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 snare 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 The Pretty Things to the techno 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 Beasts of Bourbon. All the underground hits.
All Joy Division tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harpers Bizarre record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kool Moe Dee record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Monks,
the Human League,
X-102,
The Kinks,
Fluxion,
Radio Birdman,
UT,
Isaac Hayes,
Jesper Dahlback,
Jimmy McGriff,
B.T. Express,
Cecil Taylor,
Soul II Soul,
Nik Kershaw,
The Birthday Party,
Blossom Toes,
The Seeds,
Pantaleimon,
A Certain Ratio,
Lalo Schifrin,
Brand Nubian,
Godley & Creme,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Grandmaster Flash,
Peter & Gordon,
Chris Corsano,
Ossler,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Buckinghams,
The Electric Prunes,
Masters at Work,
Panda Bear,
Can,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
ABBA,
Spandau Ballet,
Massinfluence,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Audionom,
Bootsy Collins,
Second Layer,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Josef K,
New Age Steppers,
In Retrospect,
Index,
Al Stewart,
The Fugs,
Maleditus Sound,
Tommy Roe,
Mantronix,
Minor Threat,
Connie Case,
Icehouse,
Q65,
Arcadia,
Television Personalities,
John Lydon,
Byron Stingily,
The Human League,
Shoche, Shoche, Shoche, Shoche.
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.