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 Jordan and from Tokyo.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 arpeggiator 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 Mantronix to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Durutti Column. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skriet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Flamin' Groovies,
Hasil Adkins,
The Invisible,
Man Eating Sloth,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Vainqueur,
The Human League,
The Slackers,
Ten City,
Lucky Dragons,
a-ha,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Skriet,
Juan Atkins,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
The Real Kids,
Eric Dolphy,
Robert Görl,
Siglo XX,
Agitation Free,
Q and Not U,
Technova,
Harpers Bizarre,
Talk Talk,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Sonics,
Mandrill,
Metal Thangz,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Pretty Things,
the Bar-Kays,
The Trojans,
Bill Wells,
Jacques Brel,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
David Axelrod,
New York Dolls,
Mission of Burma,
The American Breed,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Walker Brothers,
Fat Boys,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Clear Light,
Kurtis Blow,
Television,
Alton Ellis,
The Skatalites,
Wasted Youth,
Steve Hackett,
The Last Poets,
Rekid,
Robert Wyatt,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Remains,
The Alarm Clocks,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Shoche,
Soft Cell,
the Germs,
Kas Product,
Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat, Minor Threat.
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.