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 Sierra Leone and from Taipei.
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 Manila and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 marimba 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 Robert Görl to the disco 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 Faraquet. All the underground hits.
All 48th St. Collective tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cabaret Voltaire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
London Community Gospel Choir,
Eric B and Rakim,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Scrapy,
Brass Construction,
Guru Guru,
the Bar-Kays,
The Standells,
Freddie Wadling,
Nas,
Television,
John Cale,
Chrome,
Zero Boys,
In Retrospect,
Unrelated Segments,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Wings,
Lalo Schifrin,
Sam Rivers,
Reagan Youth,
The Happenings,
Shoche,
Ultravox,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Barrington Levy,
Intrusion,
Goldenarms,
Motorama,
Ice-T,
The Leaves,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Velvet Underground,
Jandek,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Star Department,
the Association,
Mary Jane Girls,
Fat Boys,
Black Bananas,
The Trojans,
The Gladiators,
The Misunderstood,
Derrick May,
Alton Ellis,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Matthew Bourne,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Glenn Branca,
Visage,
Cal Tjader,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Kool Moe Dee,
Unwound,
Pulsallama,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
T.S.O.L.,
The Five Americans,
Carl Craig,
Angry Samoans,
Sandy B,
The Wake,
a-ha,
Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre.
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.