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 Czech Republic and from Shanghai.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Schoolly D to the grime kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Invisible. All the underground hits.
All Q65 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Moleskins,
The Happenings,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Pussy Galore,
a-ha,
Aloha Tigers,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Lindisfarne,
The J.B.'s,
Howard Jones,
Joyce Sims,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Yusef Lateef,
MDC,
DJ Style,
Eve St. Jones,
The Moody Blues,
Derrick May,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Althea and Donna,
Kerri Chandler,
The New Christs,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lalo Schifrin,
Freddie Wadling,
The Busters,
Aural Exciters,
Ponytail,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Tubeway Army,
Swans,
The Standells,
Cecil Taylor,
Whodini,
The Beau Brummels,
Crispy Ambulance,
the Slits,
Television,
Albert Ayler,
The Pretty Things,
The Monks,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Gap Band,
Alton Ellis,
Kenny Larkin,
The Smiths,
Index,
Quando Quango,
Average White Band,
Chris & Cosey,
David Axelrod,
Crime,
The Blackbyrds,
Excepter,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Real Kids,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fatback Band,
Stockholm Monsters,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Procol Harum,
Warren Ellis,
Bluetip,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.