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 Lithuania and from Lyon.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Pole to the techno kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Electric Prunes. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Absolute Body Control record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Prince Buster record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bobby Byrd,
Soft Cell,
The Residents,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Monks,
The Misunderstood,
ABBA,
The Pretty Things,
The Trojans,
Kerrie Biddell,
Scion,
Chris Corsano,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Yusef Lateef,
Jacob Miller,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sonic Youth,
The Fugs,
Reuben Wilson,
Technova,
Angry Samoans,
A Certain Ratio,
DJ Style,
The Dirtbombs,
Sandy B,
CMW,
DJ Sneak,
New York Dolls,
Jandek,
Pagans,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
DNA,
Kenny Larkin,
Cluster,
Camouflage,
Dead Boys,
Spandau Ballet,
The Gun Club,
Moebius,
Warsaw,
The Selecter,
the Bar-Kays,
Roger Hodgson,
The Pop Group,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Country Teasers,
the Human League,
Soulsonic Force,
Interpol,
The Music Machine,
the Association,
Arthur Verocai,
Blossom Toes,
Masters at Work,
Graham Central Station,
Negative Approach,
Juan Atkins,
The Buckinghams,
Marine Girls,
The Black Dice,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.