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 East Timor and from Bremen.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Visage to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Eric B and Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Selecter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nation of Ulysses,
Soul Sonic Force,
Matthew Halsall,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Barry Ungar,
Minor Threat,
The Black Dice,
Harmonia,
Swell Maps,
DJ Style,
Tommy Roe,
Sun Ra,
Josef K,
La Düsseldorf,
Make Up,
John Cale,
Letta Mbulu,
Dead Boys,
Monolake,
H. Thieme,
Patti Smith,
The Monks,
Rekid,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Blake Baxter,
Marine Girls,
the Fania All-Stars,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Visage,
Bush Tetras,
Cameo,
Funky Four + One,
Sparks,
The Gap Band,
Average White Band,
Lakeside,
Scientists,
Sarah Menescal,
Peter & Gordon,
Country Teasers,
Audionom,
Technova,
The Fuzztones,
Connie Case,
Ronnie Foster,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Qualms,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Desert Stars,
Hashim,
Bob Dylan,
Yusef Lateef,
Tres Demented,
The J.B.'s,
Joensuu 1685,
Public Enemy,
Piero Umiliani,
Ultramagnetic MC's, Ultramagnetic MC's, Ultramagnetic MC's, Ultramagnetic MC's.
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.