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 Estonia and from Johannesburg.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Lagos.
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 Donald Fagen 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 Maleditus Sound to the dance 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 Schoolly D. All the underground hits.
All Brick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ken Boothe record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lee Hazlewood record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reuben Wilson,
The Litter,
Brothers Johnson,
Leonard Cohen,
The Martian,
Skarface,
Robert Hood,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Star Department,
Tubeway Army,
Tres Demented,
Goldenarms,
Judy Mowatt,
Chrome,
Young Marble Giants,
Gang Green,
Danielle Patucci,
Darondo,
Letta Mbulu,
The Blues Magoos,
Mary Jane Girls,
KRS-One,
Crash Course in Science,
Liliput,
Joe Smooth,
JFA,
Pylon,
Eric Dolphy,
Inner City,
Lou Christie,
Colin Newman,
Nick Fraelich,
Dorothy Ashby,
Trumans Water,
Neil Young,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Arthur Verocai,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Grass Roots,
The Seeds,
Buzzcocks,
Moss Icon,
The Monks,
Eric Copeland,
The Selecter,
Spandau Ballet,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sixth Finger,
The Fire Engines,
The Human League,
Bobby Sherman,
Johnny Clarke,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Flamin' Groovies,
Alice Coltrane,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Barbara Tucker,
Metal Thangz,
Jeff Mills,
Bluetip,
Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson, Kevin Saunderson.
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.