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 Yemen and from Johannesburg.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Soulsonic Force to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Harmonia tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lindisfarne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nils Olav,
Sexual Harrassment,
Qualms,
Terry Callier,
Harry Pussy,
The Alarm Clocks,
B.T. Express,
Nirvana,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Delon & Dalcan,
Moby Grape,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Altered Images,
Liliput,
The Motions,
Janne Schatter,
Inner City,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Moleskins,
John Foxx,
June of 44,
Silicon Teens,
Tomorrow,
Ludus,
Crooked Eye,
Cluster,
Eurythmics,
Reagan Youth,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Deadbeat,
Unwound,
Yazoo,
The American Breed,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
8 Eyed Spy,
Jacques Brel,
Bob Dylan,
New York Dolls,
Swell Maps,
Ronan,
The Beau Brummels,
Maurizio,
Royal Trux,
Freddie Wadling,
The Real Kids,
Lyres,
The Leaves,
The Divine Comedy,
Stereo Dub,
Robert Wyatt,
Crash Course in Science,
The Tremeloes,
the Slits,
Intrusion,
Barrington Levy,
Section 25,
Mission of Burma,
Ten City,
Excepter,
MDC,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings, The Happenings.
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.