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 Latvia and from Philadelphia.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Barry Ungar to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Ludus. All the underground hits.
All Mantronix tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Donald Byrd,
Ten City,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
T.S.O.L.,
Frankie Knuckles,
Hasil Adkins,
The Offenders,
The Knickerbockers,
Public Enemy,
The Barracudas,
The Toasters,
World's Most,
Bill Near,
Althea and Donna,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Harpers Bizarre,
Fela Kuti,
Organ,
Trumans Water,
Terrestrial Tones,
Los Fastidios,
The Saints,
Amazonics,
Fat Boys,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Warren Ellis,
Robert Wyatt,
Lalo Schifrin,
Blancmange,
Jimmy McGriff,
Lou Reed,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Neu!,
the Sonics,
U.S. Maple,
Sällskapet,
Vladislav Delay,
FM Einheit,
Gang Starr,
The Gap Band,
Al Stewart,
Supertramp,
Josef K,
Bootsy Collins,
The Mojo Men,
Faust,
Soul II Soul,
Fluxion,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Neil Young,
Swell Maps,
Absolute Body Control,
Ultravox,
Sugar Minott,
Lower 48,
Moss Icon,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Public Image Ltd.,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Buckinghams,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Blackbyrds,
Blossom Toes,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.