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 Marshall Islands and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Stockholm Monsters to the funk 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 B.T. Express. All the underground hits.
All Lindisfarne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siouxsie and the Banshees record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fugazi record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Junior Murvin,
Niagra,
Ponytail,
MDC,
Von Mondo,
Royal Trux,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Arab on Radar,
Moss Icon,
Franke,
Sonny Sharrock,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Toasters,
Pierre Henry,
Metal Thangz,
Marc Almond,
Rosa Yemen,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Carl Craig,
Bang On A Can,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Aaron Thompson,
Severed Heads,
John Holt,
Black Bananas,
The Golliwogs,
Eric Dolphy,
Tom Boy,
Oblivians,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Nation of Ulysses,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Smiths,
CMW,
Second Layer,
Stereo Dub,
FM Einheit,
Davy DMX,
Main Source,
The Birthday Party,
Bill Near,
La Düsseldorf,
Simply Red,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Archie Shepp,
Hasil Adkins,
The Blackbyrds,
This Heat,
Cecil Taylor,
Cluster,
Gang of Four,
The Cowsills,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Ossler,
Black Sheep,
the Association,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Charles Mingus,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Amon Düül,
Ludus, Ludus, Ludus, Ludus.
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.