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 Nigeria and from Copenhagen.
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 1960 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 clarinet 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 Pet Shop Boys to the dance kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Velvet Underground. All the underground hits.
All Yaz tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronnie Foster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 güiro and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Walker Brothers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Agitation Free,
Shuggie Otis,
Aswad,
The Selecter,
the Slits,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
James White and The Blacks,
Erykah Badu,
Todd Terry,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Count Five,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Velvet Underground,
Laurel Aitken,
Parry Music,
Crash Course in Science,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Circle Jerks,
Iggy Pop,
Gang Green,
Mission of Burma,
The Move,
Althea and Donna,
The Neon Judgement,
U.S. Maple,
Mantronix,
Black Flag,
Marvin Gaye,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Terrestrial Tones,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Pantaleimon,
Minutemen,
The Music Machine,
The Index,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Pere Ubu,
Talk Talk,
Kurtis Blow,
Eddi Front,
Scan 7,
Brick,
In Retrospect,
10cc,
Clear Light,
Yazoo,
David McCallum,
Nik Kershaw,
Lindisfarne,
Todd Rundgren,
Outsiders,
Von Mondo,
Deepchord,
Swell Maps,
Malaria!,
Simply Red,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Das Ding,
Amon Düül II,
Drive Like Jehu,
UT, UT, UT, UT.
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.