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 Solomon Islands and from Jakarta.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 clarinet 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 Flash Fearless to the disco kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sällskapet. All the underground hits.
All Roxette tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Inner City 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 an arpeggiator and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound 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?
Radiohead,
Man Eating Sloth,
Stetsasonic,
Graham Central Station,
Terry Callier,
Flash Fearless,
Duran Duran,
Drexciya,
Bill Wells,
D'Angelo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Godley & Creme,
Audionom,
Glenn Branca,
Don Cherry,
The Busters,
Sällskapet,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Sonic Youth,
Eden Ahbez,
Roy Ayers,
Max Romeo,
CMW,
Patti Smith,
DJ Sneak,
Ken Boothe,
Suburban Knight,
Hashim,
Television Personalities,
Vainqueur,
Swans,
Desert Stars,
Scientists,
Colin Newman,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Hoover,
The Human League,
The Index,
The Invisible,
The Blues Magoos,
Delon & Dalcan,
Youth Brigade,
Accadde A,
John Cale,
Depeche Mode,
Angry Samoans,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Rekid,
Beasts of Bourbon,
The Monks,
In Retrospect,
Niagra,
The Wake,
Theoretical Girls,
Nik Kershaw,
The Electric Prunes,
Lalann,
Scrapy,
Unrelated Segments,
Public Image Ltd.,
Eddi Front,
The Offenders,
Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc..
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.