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 Malawi and from Edmonton.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Blake Baxter to the crunk 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 The Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All Teenage Jesus and the Jerks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reagan Youth record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 rhodes and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fugazi record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Thompson Twins,
Desert Stars,
Traffic Nightmare,
Drexciya,
Ornette Coleman,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Slave,
Tres Demented,
Fat Boys,
Brothers Johnson,
MC5,
Johnny Clarke,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Smiths,
Crispy Ambulance,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
OOIOO,
Maurizio,
Suburban Knight,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Youth Brigade,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Joey Negro,
L. Decosne,
Black Flag,
Skaos,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Litter,
Soul Sonic Force,
Junior Murvin,
Lungfish,
the Bar-Kays,
Malaria!,
Yazoo,
Ken Boothe,
Barclay James Harvest,
Mandrill,
Loose Ends,
Minutemen,
The New Christs,
T. Rex,
Sun Ra,
The Saints,
Cal Tjader,
Joe Smooth,
The Red Krayola,
Groovy Waters,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Mark Hollis,
The Evens,
Gang Green,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Johnny Osbourne,
Warsaw,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Mo-Dettes,
Derrick Morgan,
Aloha Tigers,
Interpol,
Howard Jones,
Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian, Brand Nubian.
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.