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 Taiwan and from Calgary.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 arpeggiator 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 Tommy Roe to the jazz 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 Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Dirtbombs record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tropical Tobacco,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Motorama,
Agitation Free,
Dennis Brown,
Organ,
Index,
Ralphi Rosario,
Essential Logic,
The Electric Prunes,
Nico,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Slits,
Siglo XX,
Sonny Sharrock,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Reagan Youth,
Ronan,
Eric B and Rakim,
Banda Bassotti,
DJ Style,
The Five Americans,
Unwound,
The Remains,
Black Sheep,
Eurythmics,
Eddi Front,
the Sonics,
The Searchers,
The Index,
Freddie Wadling,
Robert Hood,
Underground Resistance,
Moby Grape,
Buzzcocks,
Nation of Ulysses,
Monolake,
Altered Images,
Brass Construction,
Chris Corsano,
New Age Steppers,
Drexciya,
Flash Fearless,
Lou Reed,
a-ha,
Derrick May,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
the Soft Cell,
Harpers Bizarre,
Lungfish,
Quantec,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bobby Sherman,
Sonic Youth,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Arcadia,
Junior Murvin,
Ken Boothe,
Japan,
LL Cool J,
X-Ray Spex,
Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks, Porter Ricks.
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.