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 Singapore and from Accra.
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 1964 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Gang Green to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Joe Finger. All the underground hits.
All Cameo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Flock of Seagulls record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ponytail record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
Vladislav Delay,
Wasted Youth,
Bill Wells,
Altered Images,
Don Cherry,
Ituana,
Sight & Sound,
Lucky Dragons,
The Divine Comedy,
Scientists,
Sonic Youth,
Stetsasonic,
Byron Stingily,
Gang Gang Dance,
T. Rex,
Funky Four + One,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Rakim,
Donald Byrd,
Camberwell Now,
The Slackers,
The Stooges,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Mantronix,
Ponytail,
Index,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Clear Light,
Zapp,
The Happenings,
New York Dolls,
Funkadelic,
The Evens,
D'Angelo,
Peter and Kerry,
The United States of America,
Thee Headcoats,
Erykah Badu,
La Düsseldorf,
Kenny Larkin,
Shoche,
Tom Boy,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Danielle Patucci,
Davy DMX,
Wolf Eyes,
Todd Rundgren,
Freddie Wadling,
Judy Mowatt,
Fela Kuti,
Yaz,
the Human League,
Henry Cow,
Sexual Harrassment,
Metal Thangz,
Barrington Levy,
Lindisfarne,
Josef K,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Rufus Thomas,
Oneida, Oneida, Oneida, Oneida.
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.