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 Burkina and from Mexico City.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Ultra Naté to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Camberwell Now. All the underground hits.
All Pantaleimon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Buzzcocks 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick May,
Pulsallama,
Ponytail,
Dead Boys,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Todd Terry,
Josef K,
The Blues Magoos,
Marvin Gaye,
Amon Düül II,
L. Decosne,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Mr. Review,
Terrestrial Tones,
Fela Kuti,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Henry Cow,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Offenders,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Man Parrish,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
JFA,
Skriet,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Traffic Nightmare,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Soul Sonic Force,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Outsiders,
The Moleskins,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Zero Boys,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Scrapy,
The Modern Lovers,
The Victims,
Dual Sessions,
Joy Division,
Michelle Simonal,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Kinks,
The Tremeloes,
The Five Americans,
Faraquet,
The Real Kids,
Eric Dolphy,
Sister Nancy,
Johnny Osbourne,
Ituana,
Accadde A,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
the Slits,
The Fuzztones,
Pole,
John Coltrane,
Bobby Byrd,
Sandy B,
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.