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 Croatia and from Jakarta.
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 Salvador and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Janne Schatter to the rock kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Nico. All the underground hits.
All Mark Hollis 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 grunge 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 linndrum and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Curtis Mayfield record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Technova,
New York Dolls,
Eddi Front,
Flash Fearless,
Hasil Adkins,
Alice Coltrane,
Radiopuhelimet,
Scientists,
Bobby Sherman,
Tim Buckley,
Faust,
Sonny Sharrock,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Monks,
Junior Murvin,
Procol Harum,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
John Lydon,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Groovy Waters,
Thompson Twins,
Silicon Teens,
Idris Muhammad,
Mad Mike,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Sarah Menescal,
Pulsallama,
Ohio Players,
Lungfish,
The Remains,
The Trojans,
Dawn Penn,
Sällskapet,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Japan,
Radio Birdman,
Joy Division,
Simply Red,
Barbara Tucker,
The Walker Brothers,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Selecter,
A Certain Ratio,
The Knickerbockers,
The Fuzztones,
Public Enemy,
Deakin,
Robert Hood,
Deadbeat,
Wings,
the Soft Cell,
Letta Mbulu,
The Techniques,
Nik Kershaw,
Rufus Thomas,
Banda Bassotti,
The Offenders,
Porter Ricks,
The Kinks,
Man Eating Sloth,
Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy, Livin' Joy.
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.