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 Montenegro and from Portland.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 808 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 Slave to the dance kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Public Image Ltd.. All the underground hits.
All Henry Cow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Funkadelic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a 10cc record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Residents,
Bob Dylan,
Joensuu 1685,
Gong,
Buzzcocks,
John Coltrane,
The Trojans,
Pussy Galore,
Scott Walker,
Public Image Ltd.,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Leonard Cohen,
Skaos,
Spoonie Gee,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Monochrome Set,
John Foxx,
One Last Wish,
Flash Fearless,
Index,
Rotary Connection,
Blancmange,
Bang On A Can,
Television,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Black Bananas,
The Human League,
Todd Rundgren,
Nils Olav,
Slick Rick,
Magazine,
The Doobie Brothers,
JFA,
Althea and Donna,
Crash Course in Science,
ABC,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Ossler,
The Last Poets,
Echospace,
John Holt,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Erasure,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Wire,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Groovy Waters,
Lebanon Hanover,
DJ Sneak,
The Litter,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
T. Rex,
Johnny Osbourne,
Skarface,
Sarah Menescal,
Babytalk,
Kurtis Blow,
Dorothy Ashby,
MDC,
48th St. Collective,
Sandy B,
The Techniques,
The Mighty Diamonds, The Mighty Diamonds, The Mighty Diamonds, The Mighty Diamonds.
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.