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 Costa Rica and from Manila.
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 1961 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 linndrum 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 Matthew Halsall to the rap 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 Second Layer. All the underground hits.
All The Smoke tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mars 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharoah Sanders record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Arthur Verocai,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Joey Negro,
Brass Construction,
Pantaleimon,
Nirvana,
The Saints,
China Crisis,
The Blackbyrds,
Zapp,
Drive Like Jehu,
Sarah Menescal,
The Star Department,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Chris & Cosey,
Altered Images,
AZ,
Colin Newman,
Rufus Thomas,
Glenn Branca,
Erykah Badu,
Eden Ahbez,
Dennis Brown,
Barrington Levy,
Scion,
Barry Ungar,
Outsiders,
The Flesh Eaters,
Thompson Twins,
The Barracudas,
Moby Grape,
Fad Gadget,
the Swans,
The Detroit Cobras,
Rakim,
The Neon Judgement,
Fugazi,
Juan Atkins,
The Trojans,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Gap Band,
Boz Scaggs,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The J.B.'s,
D'Angelo,
Yazoo,
Jandek,
Eric Dolphy,
Masters at Work,
Newcleus,
The Doobie Brothers,
PIL,
Donald Byrd,
Arcadia,
Infiniti,
a-ha,
Mars,
Eric B and Rakim,
Maurizio,
Soft Cell,
Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz, Metal Thangz.
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.