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 Grenada and from Milan.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Traffic Nightmare to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Rod Modell. All the underground hits.
All X-102 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Moleskins 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joey Negro record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Young Rascals,
Byron Stingily,
Guru Guru,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Janne Schatter,
Cal Tjader,
Terry Callier,
Camouflage,
The Zeros,
X-Ray Spex,
Johnny Osbourne,
Wire,
Mo-Dettes,
The Cramps,
Amon Düül II,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Clear Light,
Fear,
Tom Boy,
Scientists,
Mad Mike,
Wasted Youth,
Ice-T,
Model 500,
Idris Muhammad,
Glenn Branca,
Bauhaus,
Flash Fearless,
David McCallum,
Sex Pistols,
the Germs,
The Black Dice,
Sonic Youth,
the Fania All-Stars,
Eric Dolphy,
Can,
David Axelrod,
The Neon Judgement,
Absolute Body Control,
The Offenders,
Kevin Saunderson,
New York Dolls,
Mars,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Yusef Lateef,
These Immortal Souls,
The Count Five,
Blossom Toes,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Kayak,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Selecter,
8 Eyed Spy,
Fela Kuti,
Skriet,
Morten Harket,
Kerri Chandler,
The Golliwogs,
Delta 5,
The Kinks,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
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.