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 Nicaragua and from Bologna.
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 Houston and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 808 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 Zero Boys to the grime 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 Lebanon Hanover. All the underground hits.
All Mark Hollis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Piero Umiliani record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crooked Eye record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Little Man,
Ludus,
Crispian St. Peters,
Suburban Knight,
The Invisible,
Peter & Gordon,
Yaz,
Groovy Waters,
Sunsets and Hearts,
T. Rex,
Essential Logic,
Yusef Lateef,
In Retrospect,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Black Pus,
48th St. Collective,
Gang of Four,
The Durutti Column,
John Holt,
Janne Schatter,
Fela Kuti,
Aloha Tigers,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ultravox,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Jandek,
David Bowie,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Radiohead,
The Blackbyrds,
Pharoah Sanders,
Jeff Mills,
The Fire Engines,
Reagan Youth,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
D'Angelo,
Tubeway Army,
Dark Day,
Minor Threat,
Althea and Donna,
Peter and Kerry,
FM Einheit,
Harry Pussy,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
David Axelrod,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
John Coltrane,
Wolf Eyes,
Joe Finger,
Average White Band,
The Count Five,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ken Boothe,
Radio Birdman,
The Smoke,
the Swans,
Hashim,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Bluetip,
Neu!,
the Slits,
Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas, Grey Daturas.
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.