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 Malta and from Copenhagen.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Shuggie Otis to the electroclash 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 Popol Vuh. All the underground hits.
All The Dave Clark Five tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Wings,
Gong,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
ABC,
H. Thieme,
Gabor Szabo,
The Monks,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Zapp,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Thompson Twins,
Mad Mike,
K-Klass,
Funkadelic,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Electric Prunes,
Joy Division,
Charles Mingus,
Von Mondo,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Grandmaster Flash,
Wally Richardson,
Moby Grape,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ornette Coleman,
Connie Case,
The Cramps,
John Holt,
New Order,
Maleditus Sound,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Don Cherry,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Velvet Underground,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pagans,
Symarip,
The Seeds,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Marcia Griffiths,
Anthony Braxton,
The Sonics,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Can,
Organ,
Clear Light,
Janne Schatter,
Deadbeat,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
the Swans,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ultra Naté,
Bauhaus,
Boogie Down Productions,
Tres Demented,
kango's stein massive,
Brass Construction,
Peter & Gordon,
The Barracudas,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson, Yellowson.
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.