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 New Zealand and from Columbus.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Sister Nancy to the funk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Sisters of Mercy. All the underground hits.
All kango's stein massive tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roxy Music record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Gerry Rafferty,
Johnny Clarke,
Stockholm Monsters,
T. Rex,
In Retrospect,
Reuben Wilson,
The Standells,
Glenn Branca,
Jerry's Kids,
Dawn Penn,
the Normal,
Gang Green,
Yusef Lateef,
Iggy Pop,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Mad Mike,
Althea and Donna,
Ash Ra Tempel,
June Days,
Icehouse,
Lalann,
Man Eating Sloth,
Lindisfarne,
Camouflage,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Rhythm & Sound,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Organ,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Sarah Menescal,
The Last Poets,
Kerri Chandler,
Faust,
The Divine Comedy,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Derrick May,
Hasil Adkins,
Y Pants,
the Swans,
The Motions,
Easy Going,
Urselle,
Electric Prunes,
Tom Boy,
Ossler,
The Human League,
The Happenings,
Pere Ubu,
Isaac Hayes,
Donald Byrd,
Ornette Coleman,
Faraquet,
John Holt,
Fear,
John Cale,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.