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 Morocco and from Accra.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Shanghai.
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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Howard Jones to the rap kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Essential Logic. All the underground hits.
All Kool G Rap & DJ Polo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Vogues record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Aural Exciters,
Eurythmics,
Mad Mike,
Joey Negro,
Pulsallama,
The Happenings,
Pere Ubu,
Glambeats Corp.,
the Association,
Dorothy Ashby,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Monks,
Stetsasonic,
Young Marble Giants,
Rapeman,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Barracudas,
Minnie Riperton,
Ronnie Foster,
Lou Christie,
Eddi Front,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Accadde A,
Crooked Eye,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Boz Scaggs,
Absolute Body Control,
Sexual Harrassment,
Boredoms,
Slick Rick,
Soul II Soul,
Graham Central Station,
Ohio Players,
Matthew Halsall,
Danielle Patucci,
Joy Division,
Althea and Donna,
Donny Hathaway,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Music Machine,
L. Decosne,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
James White and The Blacks,
Spandau Ballet,
Moby Grape,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Alton Ellis,
The Gun Club,
Traffic Nightmare,
Pussy Galore,
Saccharine Trust,
Aaron Thompson,
DNA,
Kerri Chandler,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Wings,
Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd, Donald Byrd.
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.