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 Zambia and from Lagos.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 spring reverb 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 Kerri Chandler to the funk kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 The Star Department. All the underground hits.
All John Holt tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eden Ahbez record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alton Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Associates,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Excepter,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Dead C,
Japan,
Andrew Hill,
Harry Pussy,
Bauhaus,
Shuggie Otis,
Qualms,
The Detroit Cobras,
Hasil Adkins,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Zero Boys,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
John Foxx,
Gang of Four,
Jerry's Kids,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Mojo Men,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
James White and The Blacks,
The Real Kids,
Lebanon Hanover,
Steve Hackett,
Popol Vuh,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Pole,
Nik Kershaw,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Pulsallama,
The Sonics,
Skarface,
The Skatalites,
Fear,
Neu!,
Rhythm & Sound,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Dead Boys,
Fatback Band,
The Red Krayola,
Nas,
Hardrive,
Fugazi,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Barry Ungar,
Young Marble Giants,
Boredoms,
Oblivians,
The Fire Engines,
E-Dancer,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Fluxion,
Flash Fearless,
The Five Americans,
Cluster,
Faraquet,
Groovy Waters,
The United States of America, The United States of America, The United States of America, The United States of America.
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.