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 Georgia and from Columbus.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Lagos.
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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Banda Bassotti to the funk 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 Matthew Halsall. All the underground hits.
All A Certain Ratio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Womack record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Visage record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DNA,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Alison Limerick,
Joyce Sims,
Lindisfarne,
Wasted Youth,
AZ,
Y Pants,
Ponytail,
World's Most,
Sister Nancy,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Gabor Szabo,
Metal Thangz,
Flash Fearless,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Essential Logic,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
X-Ray Spex,
Wings,
Magma,
The Zeros,
the Fania All-Stars,
Donald Byrd,
Wire,
David Bowie,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gastr Del Sol,
Urselle,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Japan,
Absolute Body Control,
Soft Machine,
Hoover,
Barry Ungar,
Agitation Free,
Surgeon,
The Barracudas,
Hardrive,
The Gap Band,
The Shadows of Knight,
Neu!,
Kerri Chandler,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Radiohead,
John Foxx,
Hasil Adkins,
Rakim,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Selecter,
The Kinks,
Drexciya,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sarah Menescal,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Gladiators,
Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman, Radio Birdman.
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.