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 Cyprus and from Johannesburg.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 The Modern Lovers to the funk 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 Jacques Brel. All the underground hits.
All Sarah Menescal tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Graham Central Station record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Laurel Aitken record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Agent Orange,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Gang Starr,
Parry Music,
Pharoah Sanders,
Soft Machine,
Warsaw,
The Smoke,
Jawbox,
Jesper Dahlback,
Can,
Barclay James Harvest,
Buzzcocks,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Slave,
The Moody Blues,
Dave Gahan,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Jimmy McGriff,
Mars,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Bad Manners,
Scan 7,
Bronski Beat,
Darondo,
D'Angelo,
The Vogues,
Eurythmics,
Television,
Lalann,
The Durutti Column,
UT,
Brass Construction,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The United States of America,
Soft Cell,
Shuggie Otis,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Minnie Riperton,
Public Image Ltd.,
Stereo Dub,
Skaos,
Bill Near,
Crime,
Colin Newman,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Malaria!,
Alice Coltrane,
The Buckinghams,
The Busters,
Nas,
Cymande,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Eric B and Rakim,
Tomorrow,
Rekid,
The New Christs,
Jacques Brel,
Morten Harket,
Amazonics,
The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers.
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.