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 Eritrea and from Cairo.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1968 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the marimba 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 Colin Newman to the crunk 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 Dave Gahan. All the underground hits.
All Sexual Harrassment tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fad Gadget record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a sitar and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Mighty Diamonds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Grauzone,
John Lydon,
Spoonie Gee,
Shuggie Otis,
Trumans Water,
Ken Boothe,
The Cramps,
Vladislav Delay,
Bizarre Inc.,
Quantec,
The Count Five,
Stereo Dub,
FM Einheit,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Ituana,
Anthony Braxton,
Bob Dylan,
The Move,
Yellowson,
Popol Vuh,
Dark Day,
Brass Construction,
Soulsonic Force,
Nik Kershaw,
Robert Hood,
James White and The Blacks,
Bill Wells,
Ohio Players,
Surgeon,
Byron Stingily,
Wings,
Davy DMX,
Visage,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Janne Schatter,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Durutti Column,
Max Romeo,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Brand Nubian,
Sam Rivers,
Grey Daturas,
Simply Red,
Lee Hazlewood,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
The Dave Clark Five,
Magazine,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Model 500,
Iggy Pop,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Don Cherry,
Pulsallama,
Idris Muhammad,
The Music Machine,
Gang of Four,
Sister Nancy,
The Motions,
The Fuzztones,
Rufus Thomas,
The Sound,
OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO, OOIOO.
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.