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 Burkina and from Philadelphia.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 John Coltrane to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 The Tremeloes. All the underground hits.
All Man Eating Sloth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonic Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rufus Thomas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Johnny Osbourne,
The Standells,
Bronski Beat,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Warsaw,
the Fania All-Stars,
Eric Copeland,
The Grass Roots,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Gerry Rafferty,
Joe Finger,
Spandau Ballet,
Tubeway Army,
Janne Schatter,
Piero Umiliani,
Chris Corsano,
Jawbox,
Pole,
Todd Terry,
Steve Hackett,
The Music Machine,
Sun City Girls,
Siglo XX,
The Electric Prunes,
Theoretical Girls,
Pylon,
Dual Sessions,
Suburban Knight,
Royal Trux,
The Barracudas,
Eurythmics,
The J.B.'s,
Morten Harket,
June of 44,
Young Marble Giants,
Scion,
Neil Young,
Crime,
Letta Mbulu,
DNA,
OOIOO,
Bang On A Can,
Sight & Sound,
Rotary Connection,
Nik Kershaw,
Bobby Womack,
Oneida,
Mars,
the Swans,
The Wake,
Radio Birdman,
Junior Murvin,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Rites of Spring,
Joey Negro,
Erykah Badu,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Shadows of Knight,
Alton Ellis,
Henry Cow,
Funkadelic,
Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music, Parry Music.
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.