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 Guyana and from Hong Kong.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 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 One Last Wish to the techno 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 Rufus Thomas. All the underground hits.
All Harry Pussy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Knickerbockers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mighty Diamonds,
Spoonie Gee,
FM Einheit,
Das Ding,
Graham Central Station,
Nation of Ulysses,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Motions,
Yellowson,
Circle Jerks,
Godley & Creme,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Pylon,
Black Sheep,
MDC,
Blake Baxter,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Public Image Ltd.,
Freddie Wadling,
Barbara Tucker,
Cecil Taylor,
The Busters,
Man Eating Sloth,
The New Christs,
Marvin Gaye,
Country Teasers,
These Immortal Souls,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Popol Vuh,
LL Cool J,
Alison Limerick,
The Music Machine,
Gang Green,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lower 48,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Deadbeat,
Deakin,
Arcadia,
Thee Headcoats,
Grey Daturas,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Modern Lovers,
Black Bananas,
Chris & Cosey,
Excepter,
Fear,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Television,
Ronnie Foster,
The Electric Prunes,
Slave,
Glenn Branca,
Mo-Dettes,
Mark Hollis,
Crash Course in Science,
Eli Mardock,
Lou Reed,
David McCallum,
Tomorrow,
Livin' Joy,
Kurtis Blow,
Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids, Jerry's Kids.
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.