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 Qatar 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 1969 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 Nile Rodgers 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 Rosa Yemen to the punk 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 Barbara Tucker. All the underground hits.
All Motorama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Strawberry Alarm Clock record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Hardrive,
Jimmy McGriff,
X-102,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Seeds,
Royal Trux,
Eric Dolphy,
AZ,
The Fugs,
Ice-T,
the Germs,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
K-Klass,
Arcadia,
Barbara Tucker,
Black Moon,
David Axelrod,
F. McDonald,
The J.B.'s,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Accadde A,
DNA,
Bush Tetras,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Residents,
Brothers Johnson,
The Divine Comedy,
Icehouse,
Morten Harket,
Warsaw,
MDC,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Suburban Knight,
These Immortal Souls,
Massinfluence,
Josef K,
The Fall,
Stiv Bators,
Stereo Dub,
The Pop Group,
CMW,
Rosa Yemen,
L. Decosne,
Deakin,
Siglo XX,
Alton Ellis,
Wire,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
MC5,
Maurizio,
Monks,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Searchers,
The Sonics,
Intrusion,
Oneida,
Schoolly D,
Magma,
Black Bananas,
John Holt,
Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip, Bluetip.
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.