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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Delhi.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Letta Mbulu to the dance 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 Ludus. All the underground hits.
All Lou Reed & John Cale tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an arpeggiator and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Metal Thangz,
8 Eyed Spy,
Chris & Cosey,
The Mummies,
Average White Band,
Ronan,
The Cure,
Gang Green,
The Electric Prunes,
Derrick May,
Chrome,
Eden Ahbez,
Ultra Naté,
Swans,
The Doors,
Buzzcocks,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Trojans,
Tres Demented,
Sound Behaviour,
In Retrospect,
Nik Kershaw,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Zapp,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Cheater Slicks,
The Knickerbockers,
Ralphi Rosario,
Quando Quango,
Black Bananas,
Piero Umiliani,
Main Source,
T. Rex,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Glenn Branca,
Marc Almond,
The Standells,
Marcia Griffiths,
Aswad,
Iggy Pop,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Lindisfarne,
The Sonics,
Deadbeat,
The Gap Band,
Michelle Simonal,
The Gun Club,
Kaleidoscope,
H. Thieme,
Tomorrow,
Trumans Water,
Brass Construction,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Pretty Things,
Funkadelic,
Underground Resistance,
Gang of Four,
Ronnie Foster,
Mark Hollis,
John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx, John Foxx.
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.