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 Malawi 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 1967 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the punk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. All the underground hits.
All Nirvana tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Girls At Our Best! 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Residents record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Zero Boys,
Lakeside,
The Offenders,
Sam Rivers,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Can,
The Kinks,
10cc,
Gang of Four,
Joensuu 1685,
Nirvana,
Talk Talk,
The Slackers,
Lucky Dragons,
Funky Four + One,
E-Dancer,
Janne Schatter,
Amazonics,
Harpers Bizarre,
Zapp,
Severed Heads,
Crooked Eye,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Grass Roots,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Hashim,
Kurtis Blow,
Marine Girls,
Motorama,
Joe Smooth,
Frankie Knuckles,
Japan,
Robert Hood,
Sonic Youth,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Stockholm Monsters,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Nas,
Agitation Free,
Soul Sonic Force,
Patti Smith,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Neon Judgement,
Stiv Bators,
The Fuzztones,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Skatalites,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Scott Walker,
KRS-One,
The Knickerbockers,
Kevin Saunderson,
Gil Scott Heron,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Litter,
Lalo Schifrin,
Gong,
David McCallum,
Funkadelic,
T. Rex,
Big Daddy Kane,
Adolescents,
Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim, Eric B and Rakim.
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.