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 Nauru and from Jakarta.
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 1966 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Goldenarms to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Scott Walker. All the underground hits.
All Sixth Finger tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Gun Club record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Camberwell Now record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Half Japanese,
John Coltrane,
K-Klass,
AZ,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Oneida,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Minny Pops,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Slits,
Danielle Patucci,
Howard Jones,
New Order,
Juan Atkins,
Severed Heads,
Ornette Coleman,
Brass Construction,
Warren Ellis,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Arcadia,
Organ,
Bauhaus,
Gang of Four,
The Gun Club,
Boz Scaggs,
Thee Headcoats,
Bootsy Collins,
The Flesh Eaters,
Matthew Bourne,
Yusef Lateef,
Model 500,
Nick Fraelich,
Lucky Dragons,
Ralphi Rosario,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Toni Rubio,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Sonny Sharrock,
Barrington Levy,
Brick,
Todd Rundgren,
Mark Hollis,
FM Einheit,
Young Marble Giants,
Nik Kershaw,
The Blackbyrds,
Anthony Braxton,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Associates,
Bobby Sherman,
Ponytail,
Tears for Fears,
the Swans,
Grauzone,
The Invisible,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Depeche Mode,
Deadbeat,
John Cale,
Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall, Matthew Halsall.
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.