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 Spain and from Shanghai.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 güiro 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 Faraquet to the rap 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 Loose Ends. All the underground hits.
All Jacques Brel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every T.S.O.L. 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a De La Soul & Jungle Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Copeland,
Tubeway Army,
Blancmange,
In Retrospect,
AZ,
Stiv Bators,
The Gladiators,
Sällskapet,
Bang On A Can,
Subhumans,
These Immortal Souls,
Fugazi,
Swell Maps,
Bobby Womack,
Camouflage,
Minnie Riperton,
KRS-One,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Toni Rubio,
Lightning Bolt,
One Last Wish,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Evens,
Duran Duran,
MDC,
Jawbox,
Lyres,
Man Parrish,
Juan Atkins,
Unwound,
Gil Scott Heron,
Make Up,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Sixth Finger,
Letta Mbulu,
Nirvana,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Residents,
The Fuzztones,
Johnny Osbourne,
Amazonics,
The Dirtbombs,
The Invisible,
Black Sheep,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Intrusion,
The Names,
Scion,
Parry Music,
Drive Like Jehu,
Infiniti,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Trojans,
The Index,
Brothers Johnson,
Jimmy McGriff,
The J.B.'s,
Pole,
Bronski Beat,
Moss Icon,
A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio.
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.