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 Laos and from Salvador.
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 1966 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Kaleidoscope to the rap 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 Shoche. All the underground hits.
All Gastr Del Sol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Hashim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a X-Ray Spex record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb 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 Knickerbockers,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Parry Music,
Kerri Chandler,
Gong,
Slave,
Simply Red,
X-Ray Spex,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Bluetip,
A Certain Ratio,
Harmonia,
Juan Atkins,
Alton Ellis,
Lightning Bolt,
The Slackers,
Eli Mardock,
Gichy Dan,
Country Teasers,
Matthew Halsall,
The Names,
Yazoo,
Sparks,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Yaz,
MDC,
Whodini,
Ralphi Rosario,
Make Up,
Tres Demented,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Skarface,
Lower 48,
the Slits,
The Mojo Men,
Jeru the Damaja,
Cluster,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Seeds,
Blancmange,
Soulsonic Force,
The Leaves,
Gang Starr,
Scrapy,
Aloha Tigers,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Marcia Griffiths,
Fat Boys,
Chris Corsano,
Warren Ellis,
The Tremeloes,
The Doobie Brothers,
Radiohead,
Schoolly D,
Suicide,
T.S.O.L.,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Divine Comedy,
Ludus, Ludus, Ludus, Ludus.
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.