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 Nicaragua and from Accra.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 clarinet 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 Marcia Griffiths to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Khruangbin. All the underground hits.
All Das Ding tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ludus 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a This Heat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Human League,
Big Daddy Kane,
Dorothy Ashby,
Alice Coltrane,
Alison Limerick,
The Music Machine,
Brothers Johnson,
Blancmange,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
JFA,
DNA,
In Retrospect,
Minutemen,
Wire,
Essential Logic,
Skriet,
Pantytec,
OOIOO,
Cabaret Voltaire,
the Normal,
Wally Richardson,
The Birthday Party,
Buzzcocks,
Donny Hathaway,
Arcadia,
Pagans,
10cc,
Desert Stars,
Terry Callier,
Ken Boothe,
Flash Fearless,
Bad Manners,
Nas,
Neu!,
The Divine Comedy,
Marc Almond,
Stereo Dub,
Tres Demented,
The Offenders,
F. McDonald,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Lightning Bolt,
CMW,
Bronski Beat,
Blake Baxter,
Liliput,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Dave Gahan,
Slave,
Rekid,
the Swans,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Neon Judgement,
Kayak,
Parry Music,
Gong,
Kurtis Blow,
World's Most,
The Angels of Light,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Names,
Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T, Ice-T.
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.