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 Niger and from Lille.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 harpsichord 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 Soul II Soul to the grime 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 Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All Frankie Knuckles tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Swans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camouflage record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dennis Brown,
Joyce Sims,
Johnny Osbourne,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Rufus Thomas,
Gang Starr,
Camberwell Now,
Maurizio,
Kenny Larkin,
D'Angelo,
Buzzcocks,
Cluster,
The Smoke,
Rotary Connection,
Isaac Hayes,
The New Christs,
Stockholm Monsters,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Pretty Things,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Neu!,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Au Pairs,
DNA,
Vladislav Delay,
Camouflage,
Metal Thangz,
Von Mondo,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Mad Mike,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Graham Central Station,
Thee Headcoats,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Little Man,
Suburban Knight,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
John Holt,
The Wake,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Barrington Levy,
The Real Kids,
Mission of Burma,
Erykah Badu,
Moss Icon,
The Standells,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Crooked Eye,
Lee Hazlewood,
Y Pants,
Ornette Coleman,
The Alarm Clocks,
Hasil Adkins,
Tim Buckley,
X-Ray Spex,
Glambeats Corp.,
Sonic Youth,
T.S.O.L.,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.