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 Czech Republic 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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Davy DMX to the punk kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Susan Cadogan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Frankie Knuckles record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Bar-Kays record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Detroit Cobras,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
A Certain Ratio,
The Dave Clark Five,
Unwound,
the Association,
Letta Mbulu,
Liliput,
Aswad,
Groovy Waters,
The Remains,
Mission of Burma,
The J.B.'s,
Maleditus Sound,
David McCallum,
Derrick May,
Agitation Free,
Grey Daturas,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sixth Finger,
Alice Coltrane,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Gang Green,
Rod Modell,
The Monochrome Set,
Johnny Osbourne,
T.S.O.L.,
This Heat,
Bill Wells,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Blackbyrds,
Pantytec,
Jerry's Kids,
Cecil Taylor,
Derrick Morgan,
Henry Cow,
Joensuu 1685,
Albert Ayler,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Saccharine Trust,
Pagans,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Graham Central Station,
DNA,
Buzzcocks,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Anthony Braxton,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Eve St. Jones,
Johnny Clarke,
Boogie Down Productions,
Bad Manners,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Adolescents,
Faust,
Bill Near,
Lalo Schifrin,
The United States of America,
Shoche,
The Residents,
Qualms, Qualms, Qualms, Qualms.
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.