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 Indonesia and from Seoul.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Whodini to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Toasters. All the underground hits.
All Fela Kuti tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Sonics 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Mandrill,
Kenny Larkin,
Peter and Kerry,
Warren Ellis,
Gong,
48th St. Collective,
Severed Heads,
Smog,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
New Age Steppers,
Nico,
Arthur Verocai,
Glenn Branca,
Roy Ayers,
Funkadelic,
John Lydon,
the Soft Cell,
Vainqueur,
Masters at Work,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Victims,
Black Moon,
Eurythmics,
ABBA,
Joyce Sims,
Tom Boy,
Minutemen,
Pierre Henry,
Depeche Mode,
Groovy Waters,
Zero Boys,
The Count Five,
Intrusion,
Soul II Soul,
Negative Approach,
Lungfish,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Girls At Our Best!,
Moebius,
Black Pus,
Stiv Bators,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Oblivians,
Pole,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Babytalk,
Neil Young,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Panda Bear,
Isaac Hayes,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Judy Mowatt,
Rapeman,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Toasters,
Excepter,
the Sonics,
Sällskapet,
Henry Cow,
Hashim,
Television, Television, Television, Television.
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.