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 Samoa and from Cairo.
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 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 oboe 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 The Golliwogs to the jazz kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Rahsaan Roland Kirk. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Dual Sessions 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Echospace,
Pierre Henry,
Whodini,
Q and Not U,
Eve St. Jones,
The Names,
Drive Like Jehu,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Quantec,
Anthony Braxton,
Brand Nubian,
Bluetip,
Carl Craig,
The Residents,
The Smiths,
Charles Mingus,
New York Dolls,
Bill Near,
The Count Five,
The Sound,
Pantaleimon,
Schoolly D,
Sixth Finger,
T. Rex,
Visage,
Subhumans,
Roxette,
Flipper,
Inner City,
Gabor Szabo,
Agent Orange,
Basic Channel,
Ralphi Rosario,
Max Romeo,
Jeff Lynne,
Gil Scott Heron,
Television,
The Birthday Party,
Scrapy,
Television Personalities,
The Cramps,
Lower 48,
Banda Bassotti,
Boz Scaggs,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Marvin Gaye,
Mary Jane Girls,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
CMW,
Pole,
Wire,
Wolf Eyes,
Yaz,
Sexual Harrassment,
Interpol,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Kas Product,
EPMD,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez, Eden Ahbez.
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.