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 Rwanda and from Madrid.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Hong Kong.
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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 E-Dancer to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All A Flock of Seagulls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Tremeloes,
Icehouse,
The Slits,
Ten City,
Drexciya,
The Five Americans,
Isaac Hayes,
China Crisis,
Mandrill,
Trumans Water,
Banda Bassotti,
Country Teasers,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Barclay James Harvest,
Organ,
Interpol,
Maleditus Sound,
Lee Hazlewood,
Saccharine Trust,
Angry Samoans,
Infiniti,
Masters at Work,
Kaleidoscope,
Skriet,
Juan Atkins,
Ornette Coleman,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Cecil Taylor,
Man Eating Sloth,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Sound Behaviour,
Mars,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Yazoo,
Sparks,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Brand Nubian,
Man Parrish,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Remains,
Eden Ahbez,
Television Personalities,
Anakelly,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Leonard Cohen,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Das Ding,
Brothers Johnson,
Fela Kuti,
The Invisible,
The Birthday Party,
Funkadelic,
The Fortunes,
The Gladiators,
The American Breed,
Depeche Mode,
Qualms,
Howard Jones,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Soft Cell,
the Human League,
Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis, Shuggie Otis.
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.