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 Burundi and from Portland.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 Donald Fagen 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 Eric Copeland to the crunk 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 Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pop Group 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gang Gang Dance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bobby Sherman,
the Human League,
The Last Poets,
The Gun Club,
Barbara Tucker,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Audionom,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Avey Tare,
Ralphi Rosario,
Darondo,
Pagans,
Gregory Isaacs,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Fad Gadget,
Jeru the Damaja,
Sonic Youth,
Ice-T,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Crash Course in Science,
Max Romeo,
Aswad,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Qualms,
Man Parrish,
New Order,
Arab on Radar,
Pharoah Sanders,
Cal Tjader,
Metal Thangz,
Mary Jane Girls,
Crooked Eye,
Boredoms,
Mo-Dettes,
Amon Düül II,
Sexual Harrassment,
Grauzone,
Connie Case,
Amon Düül,
Isaac Hayes,
UT,
X-101,
Lalo Schifrin,
Babytalk,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Infiniti,
Lebanon Hanover,
Sight & Sound,
Stetsasonic,
The Cowsills,
Intrusion,
Brothers Johnson,
Colin Newman,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Davy DMX,
Dark Day,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Don Cherry,
Be Bop Deluxe,
AZ,
Pierre Henry,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.