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 Dominica 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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Harry Pussy to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Glambeats Corp.. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Heavy D & The Boyz record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Terrestrial Tones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ken Boothe,
The Black Dice,
Zero Boys,
Fatback Band,
The Slackers,
Danielle Patucci,
Unwound,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Association,
Johnny Clarke,
Ponytail,
R.M.O.,
Tubeway Army,
Boz Scaggs,
Stetsasonic,
PIL,
Harmonia,
the Soft Cell,
F. McDonald,
Eden Ahbez,
Infiniti,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Animal Collective,
Graham Central Station,
Brass Construction,
Jacob Miller,
Warren Ellis,
Intrusion,
Howard Jones,
The Modern Lovers,
Qualms,
Derrick Morgan,
Make Up,
The Seeds,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Barry Ungar,
Marc Almond,
Gang Green,
Stereo Dub,
Suburban Knight,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Motorama,
The Gladiators,
Archie Shepp,
Country Teasers,
Derrick May,
Liliput,
Ice-T,
Junior Murvin,
New York Dolls,
JFA,
Donald Byrd,
Swell Maps,
Joensuu 1685,
FM Einheit,
EPMD,
Iggy Pop,
Ten City,
The Sonics,
Duran Duran,
Blancmange,
Monks,
Althea and Donna,
The Sound, The Sound, The Sound, The Sound.
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.