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 Laos and from Manila.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Oblivians 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 Marc Almond. All the underground hits.
All The Leaves tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Henry Cow 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Real Kids record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Guru Guru,
The Mummies,
Marcia Griffiths,
Gerry Rafferty,
Alphaville,
Stereo Dub,
Mars,
Pierre Henry,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The Offenders,
Aloha Tigers,
The Moody Blues,
The Barracudas,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
DJ Style,
Buzzcocks,
Radiohead,
Frankie Knuckles,
Grandmaster Flash,
Ken Boothe,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Robert Wyatt,
Lindisfarne,
Sexual Harrassment,
Eric Dolphy,
Barclay James Harvest,
Popol Vuh,
Blake Baxter,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Darondo,
Slick Rick,
The Gun Club,
Bob Dylan,
Zero Boys,
Mary Jane Girls,
Blossom Toes,
The Invisible,
The Leaves,
The Cowsills,
Isaac Hayes,
ABBA,
Oblivians,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Kinks,
Rites of Spring,
La Düsseldorf,
8 Eyed Spy,
Godley & Creme,
In Retrospect,
Mantronix,
The New Christs,
Panda Bear,
Model 500,
Crispy Ambulance,
Gabor Szabo,
Yellowson,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Interpol,
Wasted Youth,
Erykah Badu,
Aaron Thompson,
Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe, Tommy Roe.
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.