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 Accra.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Spokane.
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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the sitar 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 Yellowson to the rap 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 Harry Pussy. All the underground hits.
All Motorama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Man Eating Sloth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joey Negro record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Groovy Waters,
Leonard Cohen,
Andrew Hill,
Ronnie Foster,
PIL,
Wolf Eyes,
Patti Smith,
Jacques Brel,
Barry Ungar,
The Associates,
Michelle Simonal,
Yazoo,
Tim Buckley,
Kayak,
Yaz,
Country Teasers,
Joe Finger,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Boogie Down Productions,
Cymande,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Erasure,
Gregory Isaacs,
Lalann,
The Trojans,
The Dirtbombs,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Dead C,
Lalo Schifrin,
Guru Guru,
Sound Behaviour,
The Monks,
Gabor Szabo,
Das Ding,
Crime,
Kaleidoscope,
Bang On A Can,
Dead Boys,
The Seeds,
Goldenarms,
Jerry's Kids,
Babytalk,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Funkadelic,
CMW,
Darondo,
Matthew Bourne,
Radio Birdman,
Au Pairs,
Albert Ayler,
World's Most,
the Fania All-Stars,
China Crisis,
Unwound,
Mark Hollis,
New Order,
Harpers Bizarre,
Crispian St. Peters,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Aswad,
Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet, Spandau Ballet.
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.