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 Norway and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Ken Boothe to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Model 500. All the underground hits.
All DNA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Flag record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Vladislav Delay record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Max Romeo,
Rapeman,
The Golliwogs,
Ludus,
Toni Rubio,
Pussy Galore,
Newcleus,
Das Ding,
Kerri Chandler,
Buzzcocks,
Main Source,
The Monks,
The Tremeloes,
Bluetip,
X-102,
Little Man,
Johnny Osbourne,
Mark Hollis,
Electric Prunes,
The Blues Magoos,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lou Reed,
Mission of Burma,
Matthew Bourne,
The Human League,
Stetsasonic,
Lalann,
Tropical Tobacco,
Rod Modell,
Bang On A Can,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Public Enemy,
John Lydon,
Yaz,
Gang of Four,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Big Daddy Kane,
Wally Richardson,
The Monochrome Set,
MC5,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Curtis Mayfield,
Angry Samoans,
Darondo,
The Angels of Light,
New York Dolls,
Scrapy,
Kool Moe Dee,
Gerry Rafferty,
Laurel Aitken,
ABBA,
Sound Behaviour,
Howard Jones,
the Slits,
Black Flag,
Steve Hackett,
The Black Dice,
Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers, Aloha Tigers.
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.