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 Nicaragua and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 PIL to the jazz 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 Magma. All the underground hits.
All Index tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every John Lydon 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Niagra,
Camouflage,
Sun Ra,
Accadde A,
The Gun Club,
Scratch Acid,
Bill Near,
Youth Brigade,
Marcia Griffiths,
Nirvana,
Gang Gang Dance,
Mandrill,
The Associates,
Dawn Penn,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Swans,
Marc Almond,
The Human League,
The United States of America,
Ice-T,
DJ Style,
Procol Harum,
MDC,
Interpol,
Outsiders,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Eve St. Jones,
Chris & Cosey,
The Last Poets,
Supertramp,
A Certain Ratio,
The Music Machine,
Jerry's Kids,
Lower 48,
Ossler,
Cluster,
Radiohead,
Tomorrow,
Quadrant,
10cc,
Stiv Bators,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Ponytail,
The Litter,
Deadbeat,
Magma,
Brass Construction,
Bootsy Collins,
Skaos,
June of 44,
The Barracudas,
La Düsseldorf,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sandy B,
Steve Hackett,
Make Up,
Mission of Burma,
Duran Duran,
Wasted Youth,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Radiopuhelimet,
Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy, Scrapy.
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.