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 Seychelles and from Tehran.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 spring reverb 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 Donny Hathaway to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Zapp. All the underground hits.
All Liaisons Dangereuses tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Arab on Radar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 chamberlin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eyeless In Gaza record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Icehouse,
The Alarm Clocks,
Stiv Bators,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lightning Bolt,
Black Moon,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Dirtbombs,
MC5,
Aloha Tigers,
Michelle Simonal,
the Fania All-Stars,
Slave,
Newcleus,
The J.B.'s,
Amon Düül,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Tremeloes,
Moebius,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Anthony Braxton,
The Walker Brothers,
Inner City,
Brick,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Dead C,
Junior Murvin,
The Neon Judgement,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Susan Cadogan,
The Smoke,
The Cure,
Byron Stingily,
Matthew Bourne,
Marshall Jefferson,
Ossler,
Lindisfarne,
Jacob Miller,
Ice-T,
Boz Scaggs,
Arcadia,
Nas,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Harpers Bizarre,
Morten Harket,
Soft Cell,
Mandrill,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The American Breed,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Slackers,
Mo-Dettes,
Tubeway Army,
Radiopuhelimet,
Agent Orange,
Brass Construction,
Girls At Our Best!,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Nation of Ulysses,
Suburban Knight,
Andrew Hill,
Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents, Adolescents.
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.