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 Canada and from Tokyo.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 guitar 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 Archie Shepp to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Soft Cell. All the underground hits.
All Television tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Birthday Party record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Tears for Fears record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Modern Lovers,
John Foxx,
Colin Newman,
Byron Stingily,
Desert Stars,
Maurizio,
Marmalade,
Deepchord,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Walker Brothers,
Erykah Badu,
Scrapy,
Gabor Szabo,
EPMD,
Swell Maps,
Loose Ends,
The Fugs,
Country Teasers,
Jimmy McGriff,
Minny Pops,
48th St. Collective,
Eve St. Jones,
Grandmaster Flash,
Fad Gadget,
Siglo XX,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Jeru the Damaja,
Jandek,
Second Layer,
Hasil Adkins,
Barbara Tucker,
The Happenings,
The Pretty Things,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Joy Division,
Gang Gang Dance,
Cymande,
Junior Murvin,
Yazoo,
Lyres,
Yaz,
Nation of Ulysses,
Subhumans,
Derrick Morgan,
Sugar Minott,
X-Ray Spex,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Young Marble Giants,
Angry Samoans,
Stiv Bators,
The Moleskins,
Pulsallama,
Josef K,
Johnny Clarke,
Fluxion,
Simply Red,
Morten Harket,
Supertramp,
Bobby Womack,
Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie, Lou Christie.
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.