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 Haiti and from Manila.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 clarinet 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 Sam Rivers to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Neil Young & Crazy Horse 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Mandrill record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Association,
Minutemen,
Jeff Lynne,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Grass Roots,
Hoover,
Lyres,
K-Klass,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Gladiators,
The Trojans,
The Monochrome Set,
8 Eyed Spy,
Procol Harum,
Mark Hollis,
Marmalade,
Scan 7,
Gang Gang Dance,
the Slits,
The Detroit Cobras,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Eurythmics,
the Human League,
Ultravox,
Matthew Bourne,
Funky Four + One,
Gichy Dan,
Piero Umiliani,
Jacob Miller,
Lee Hazlewood,
The Blues Magoos,
Drexciya,
Funkadelic,
Rosa Yemen,
The Alarm Clocks,
Quadrant,
Con Funk Shun,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Sun Ra,
Sixth Finger,
Can,
Flash Fearless,
James White and The Blacks,
Public Image Ltd.,
Juan Atkins,
Porter Ricks,
Frankie Knuckles,
Morten Harket,
Arab on Radar,
The Gun Club,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Graham Central Station,
Glambeats Corp.,
Blancmange,
Donny Hathaway,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Black Moon,
Janne Schatter,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Flamin' Groovies,
Byron Stingily,
The United States of America,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc., Bizarre Inc..
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.