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 Zambia and from Stockholm.
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 Bremen and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Popol Vuh to the grunge 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 Johnny Osbourne. All the underground hits.
All Suicide tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Letta Mbulu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wings record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
The Velvet Underground,
Jerry's Kids,
FM Einheit,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
X-102,
A Certain Ratio,
Nico,
Eden Ahbez,
The Residents,
Accadde A,
D'Angelo,
Jeff Mills,
The Gap Band,
The Golliwogs,
Prince Buster,
Easy Going,
Glenn Branca,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ice-T,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Chris Corsano,
Amazonics,
The Sonics,
John Foxx,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
JFA,
Fatback Band,
Derrick May,
Public Image Ltd.,
New York Dolls,
Iggy Pop,
Kool Moe Dee,
Au Pairs,
Lungfish,
Quantec,
Kaleidoscope,
Howard Jones,
Radiopuhelimet,
Davy DMX,
Dawn Penn,
H. Thieme,
Bizarre Inc.,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Funkadelic,
Janne Schatter,
Roger Hodgson,
La Düsseldorf,
The Young Rascals,
Aural Exciters,
the Sonics,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Matthew Bourne,
Can,
DNA,
The Fugs,
The Vogues,
Scientists,
The Gladiators,
Archie Shepp,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Slits,
X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex, X-Ray Spex.
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.