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 Israel and from Beijing.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Half Japanese to the dance 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 Tomorrow. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bad Manners record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dorothy Ashby,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Todd Terry,
Urselle,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Freddie Wadling,
Scrapy,
Ossler,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
The Sound,
Tears for Fears,
L. Decosne,
Alton Ellis,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Au Pairs,
Ralphi Rosario,
Girls At Our Best!,
Echospace,
OOIOO,
Maurizio,
John Cale,
Avey Tare,
Groovy Waters,
The Techniques,
Sister Nancy,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Morten Harket,
Pharoah Sanders,
Fat Boys,
Howard Jones,
the Soft Cell,
Danielle Patucci,
Los Fastidios,
Mo-Dettes,
the Normal,
Derrick May,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
The Motions,
Black Bananas,
The United States of America,
James White and The Blacks,
Eric Copeland,
Talk Talk,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Neon Judgement,
Vainqueur,
Arab on Radar,
Tropical Tobacco,
DJ Sneak,
Magazine,
Radiohead,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Y Pants,
Derrick Morgan,
the Swans,
Jacob Miller,
E-Dancer,
the Germs,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
CMW,
La Düsseldorf,
Dave Gahan,
World's Most,
The Stooges,
The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds, The Blackbyrds.
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.