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 Ukraine and from Lyon.
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 1964 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 guitar 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 Boogie Down Productions to the funk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Flamin' Groovies. All the underground hits.
All Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cybotron record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rekid,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Stereo Dub,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Marmalade,
Yusef Lateef,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
World's Most,
B.T. Express,
Howard Jones,
The Red Krayola,
Aural Exciters,
Grandmaster Flash,
Dennis Brown,
The Dave Clark Five,
Sam Rivers,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Gerry Rafferty,
Morten Harket,
Tommy Roe,
Sight & Sound,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Althea and Donna,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Funky Four + One,
Aaron Thompson,
Pantaleimon,
Man Parrish,
Sandy B,
Deadbeat,
Adolescents,
E-Dancer,
Sound Behaviour,
Nas,
Anthony Braxton,
Pierre Henry,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Todd Rundgren,
Camberwell Now,
Jerry's Kids,
Terrestrial Tones,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Smog,
The Fall,
Jeff Lynne,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Gastr Del Sol,
John Coltrane,
The Mummies,
Ultravox,
Metal Thangz,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Mark Hollis,
LL Cool J,
Agent Orange,
Boredoms,
Ornette Coleman,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Roger Hodgson,
Minutemen,
Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord.
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.