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 Switzerland and from Mumbai.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Fela Kuti to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Joyce Sims. All the underground hits.
All kango's stein massive tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Skaos record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 harpsichord and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Massinfluence record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Public Enemy,
Pere Ubu,
Robert Wyatt,
Eve St. Jones,
The Black Dice,
The Mummies,
Bluetip,
Kenny Larkin,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Aswad,
Yaz,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Monks,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Electric Light Orchestra,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
A Certain Ratio,
The Toasters,
Glenn Branca,
Livin' Joy,
Michelle Simonal,
The Martian,
Jeff Mills,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Joe Smooth,
KRS-One,
Banda Bassotti,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Desert Stars,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Electric Prunes,
Audionom,
The Grass Roots,
Duran Duran,
The Blackbyrds,
Royal Trux,
Ultra Naté,
DJ Style,
Soft Cell,
Nirvana,
Matthew Bourne,
Byron Stingily,
The Dead C,
Ronnie Foster,
Suicide,
Barclay James Harvest,
Can,
The Modern Lovers,
Barbara Tucker,
Avey Tare,
Todd Terry,
Sarah Menescal,
Icehouse,
Harmonia,
Tim Buckley,
Lebanon Hanover,
Wings,
Scion,
Neil Young,
Stetsasonic,
Lee Hazlewood,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Stooges,
Television,
The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes, The Tremeloes.
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.