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 Tanzania and from Houston.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 Holger Czukay 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 David Axelrod to the rap 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 X-102. All the underground hits.
All Colin Newman tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Maurizio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Traffic Nightmare record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pantaleimon,
Buzzcocks,
Cecil Taylor,
Amazonics,
Scan 7,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Durutti Column,
Crash Course in Science,
MC5,
DJ Style,
Con Funk Shun,
Iggy Pop,
Quadrant,
Harpers Bizarre,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Guru Guru,
Gil Scott Heron,
Mission of Burma,
Simply Red,
Cal Tjader,
Roger Hodgson,
The Black Dice,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Peter & Gordon,
Gregory Isaacs,
Liliput,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Evens,
Judy Mowatt,
The Wake,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Neon Judgement,
Saccharine Trust,
Spandau Ballet,
Ronnie Foster,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Altered Images,
Parry Music,
Jerry's Kids,
Franke,
Fear,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Stiv Bators,
The Vogues,
Tres Demented,
Desert Stars,
Audionom,
Anthony Braxton,
Mo-Dettes,
Drexciya,
June Days,
Avey Tare,
Traffic Nightmare,
Nico,
Kerrie Biddell,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Y Pants,
Charles Mingus,
Maleditus Sound,
EPMD,
Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones, Eve St. Jones.
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.