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 Russia and from Johannesburg.
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 1963 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Procol Harum to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Cymande. All the underground hits.
All La Düsseldorf tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brick 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lonnie Liston Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
B.T. Express,
The Cramps,
This Heat,
Todd Terry,
Peter and Kerry,
Schoolly D,
Andrew Hill,
Leonard Cohen,
Rotary Connection,
Iggy Pop,
The Evens,
Marine Girls,
Bill Near,
Yellowson,
Boogie Down Productions,
PIL,
Avey Tare,
Ralphi Rosario,
Smog,
Infiniti,
Idris Muhammad,
Rosa Yemen,
The Trojans,
Pierre Henry,
Loose Ends,
Matthew Halsall,
Groovy Waters,
Theoretical Girls,
Sonny Sharrock,
Jimmy McGriff,
Urselle,
OOIOO,
Lou Christie,
Jeru the Damaja,
Barrington Levy,
Sight & Sound,
ABC,
Wolf Eyes,
Mary Jane Girls,
Arthur Verocai,
Maleditus Sound,
Quando Quango,
Crooked Eye,
Suburban Knight,
Black Moon,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bang On A Can,
The Detroit Cobras,
Patti Smith,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Darondo,
Tres Demented,
Pharoah Sanders,
Throbbing Gristle,
Wally Richardson,
Interpol,
Lindisfarne,
Crispy Ambulance,
Sam Rivers,
Zapp, Zapp, Zapp, Zapp.
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.