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 Nauru and from Paris.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Lafayette Afro Rock Band 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 Unrelated Segments. All the underground hits.
All The Raincoats tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a mellotron and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Public Enemy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Outsiders,
Minnie Riperton,
Lalo Schifrin,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Fugs,
Massinfluence,
Amon Düül,
Sonny Sharrock,
MC5,
Nation of Ulysses,
T. Rex,
Harmonia,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Doobie Brothers,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Maurizio,
Amon Düül II,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Livin' Joy,
Clear Light,
Icehouse,
Scientists,
Electric Prunes,
Howard Jones,
Dave Gahan,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Josef K,
Freddie Wadling,
Darondo,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Gap Band,
Juan Atkins,
Dennis Brown,
the Slits,
Simply Red,
Public Image Ltd.,
Max Romeo,
Bobby Sherman,
Average White Band,
Jacques Brel,
Swell Maps,
The Martian,
Lyres,
Anthony Braxton,
The Monks,
Sandy B,
Cluster,
Q and Not U,
48th St. Collective,
The Cure,
Roxette,
The Stooges,
The Index,
Isaac Hayes,
The Moleskins,
The Residents,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Doors,
Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo, Von Mondo.
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.