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 Brazil and from Beijing.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 theremin 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 Gastr Del Sol to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Johnny Osbourne. All the underground hits.
All The Mojo Men tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moss Icon 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Matthew Halsall record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABBA,
Drive Like Jehu,
48th St. Collective,
Tim Buckley,
Sparks,
T.S.O.L.,
Simply Red,
Joyce Sims,
David Bowie,
Liliput,
Howard Jones,
Robert Hood,
The Monochrome Set,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Andrew Hill,
Quantec,
The Cowsills,
Adolescents,
Lebanon Hanover,
Faraquet,
Delon & Dalcan,
Bill Near,
Gerry Rafferty,
Yazoo,
Altered Images,
Mission of Burma,
Todd Terry,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Joey Negro,
The Gladiators,
The Standells,
Von Mondo,
Qualms,
The Modern Lovers,
Young Marble Giants,
Basic Channel,
Flash Fearless,
Chris Corsano,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Barracudas,
Stiv Bators,
The Moleskins,
Malaria!,
Electric Prunes,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Brick,
Soft Machine,
Organ,
Little Man,
H. Thieme,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bluetip,
Scrapy,
The Golliwogs,
The Techniques,
Roxy Music,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Mantronix,
Hashim,
Frankie Knuckles,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Slick Rick,
Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker, Barbara Tucker.
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.