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 El Salvador and from Stockholm.
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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Carl Craig to the punk kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 James Chance & The Contortions. All the underground hits.
All Sonic Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Livin' Joy,
UT,
Bill Wells,
Pulsallama,
The Evens,
Slick Rick,
Drexciya,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
In Retrospect,
The Cramps,
the Bar-Kays,
Gang Green,
EPMD,
The Birthday Party,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Skatalites,
Barry Ungar,
The Selecter,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Hot Snakes,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Be Bop Deluxe,
K-Klass,
The Invisible,
Heaven 17,
Yusef Lateef,
the Slits,
Freddie Wadling,
Marvin Gaye,
Davy DMX,
Kerri Chandler,
Tubeway Army,
Carl Craig,
Porter Ricks,
Rotary Connection,
Aloha Tigers,
Skriet,
Eric B and Rakim,
Crime,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Harmonia,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Motions,
The Raincoats,
Arthur Verocai,
Erykah Badu,
One Last Wish,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Brass Construction,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Pet Shop Boys,
Barbara Tucker,
Terrestrial Tones,
Nico,
The Durutti Column,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Angels of Light,
Peter and Kerry,
Curtis Mayfield,
Niagra, Niagra, Niagra, Niagra.
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.