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 Marshall Islands and from Glasgow.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 güiro 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 Johnny Clarke to the crunk 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 Connie Case. All the underground hits.
All Fad Gadget tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang of Four record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Magma record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Interpol,
Brass Construction,
The Mojo Men,
The Gories,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Derrick May,
Throbbing Gristle,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Judy Mowatt,
Derrick Morgan,
Curtis Mayfield,
Graham Central Station,
The Pretty Things,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Joyce Sims,
Organ,
Ten City,
One Last Wish,
Make Up,
Marvin Gaye,
The Saints,
Flamin' Groovies,
Lower 48,
The Standells,
Outsiders,
Intrusion,
Mantronix,
Oblivians,
Soft Cell,
K-Klass,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Fire Engines,
Negative Approach,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lalann,
The Moody Blues,
Reuben Wilson,
JFA,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Man Parrish,
Schoolly D,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Offenders,
Surgeon,
The Residents,
Masters at Work,
Essential Logic,
The Pop Group,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Groovy Waters,
Nick Fraelich,
Shuggie Otis,
The Walker Brothers,
Animal Collective,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Isaac Hayes,
Dorothy Ashby,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Minutemen,
Tommy Roe,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott.
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.