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 Chad and from Stockholm.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 synthesizer 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 D'Angelo to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Ossler. All the underground hits.
All Ponytail tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Prunes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Amon Düül,
Letta Mbulu,
Don Cherry,
Loose Ends,
Chris Corsano,
The Neon Judgement,
Rosa Yemen,
Mission of Burma,
Sam Rivers,
Deadbeat,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Sun City Girls,
Al Stewart,
Ice-T,
Cymande,
Eve St. Jones,
Severed Heads,
Piero Umiliani,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Liliput,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
K-Klass,
New York Dolls,
Second Layer,
Depeche Mode,
Peter and Kerry,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
the Association,
Visage,
Boredoms,
the Bar-Kays,
Lyres,
The Motions,
Skriet,
Barrington Levy,
Grandmaster Flash,
Bronski Beat,
Matthew Bourne,
Moebius,
Scan 7,
Skaos,
Pantytec,
Radiopuhelimet,
Sonny Sharrock,
Hasil Adkins,
Fat Boys,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Erasure,
Circle Jerks,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Avey Tare,
The Remains,
Gang Green,
The Music Machine,
Sister Nancy,
Andrew Hill,
Patti Smith,
Jerry's Kids,
The Alarm Clocks,
Royal Trux,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Jacob Miller,
Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler, Albert Ayler.
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.