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 Bahrain and from Mumbai.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 synthesizer 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 Bob Dylan to the disco 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 Mo-Dettes. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Youth Brigade record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 snare and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a PIL record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eyeless In Gaza,
Sixth Finger,
Roy Ayers,
Outsiders,
The Invisible,
New Order,
Simply Red,
Public Image Ltd.,
Fad Gadget,
Clear Light,
Scion,
UT,
Lucky Dragons,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Fortunes,
Depeche Mode,
Jeff Mills,
Newcleus,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Slits,
Yaz,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Donny Hathaway,
The Velvet Underground,
Stiv Bators,
Youth Brigade,
Loose Ends,
Grauzone,
Laurel Aitken,
Pulsallama,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Schoolly D,
Rites of Spring,
Traffic Nightmare,
Roger Hodgson,
Television,
Marmalade,
Frankie Knuckles,
EPMD,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Pantaleimon,
Tres Demented,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ultravox,
Albert Ayler,
Bill Near,
AZ,
The Angels of Light,
Jacob Miller,
Yellowson,
Todd Rundgren,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Monochrome Set,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Index,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Camouflage,
Smog,
Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill.
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.