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 New Zealand and from Madrid.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 arpeggiator 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 Sex Pistols to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Cheater Slicks. All the underground hits.
All Lyres tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Glambeats Corp. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Grey Daturas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bad Manners,
Spoonie Gee,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Yaz,
Black Moon,
Glambeats Corp.,
Boz Scaggs,
Chrome,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Stereo Dub,
Bobby Sherman,
The Fortunes,
Symarip,
Sex Pistols,
Peter & Gordon,
Barrington Levy,
Supertramp,
the Slits,
Mo-Dettes,
Metal Thangz,
Severed Heads,
The Red Krayola,
Groovy Waters,
Radiopuhelimet,
Joyce Sims,
Al Stewart,
Derrick Morgan,
Thompson Twins,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Victims,
Radiohead,
The Mojo Men,
Flipper,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Shadows of Knight,
OOIOO,
Roxette,
Juan Atkins,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lalo Schifrin,
Agitation Free,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Quadrant,
Sun Ra,
Television,
Michelle Simonal,
Skarface,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Music Machine,
Cheater Slicks,
Surgeon,
Livin' Joy,
The Misunderstood,
The Saints,
Kas Product,
Minnie Riperton,
Cecil Taylor,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Darondo,
Hasil Adkins,
Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey, Bobbi Humphrey.
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.