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 Somalia and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Cybotron to the punk 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 The Techniques. All the underground hits.
All The Mojo Men tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Patti Smith record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James White and The Blacks,
Depeche Mode,
Patti Smith,
Bang On A Can,
Yazoo,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Warsaw,
Skarface,
Interpol,
La Düsseldorf,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lalo Schifrin,
Cybotron,
The Black Dice,
Procol Harum,
The Move,
Organ,
Sight & Sound,
Grey Daturas,
In Retrospect,
Sexual Harrassment,
The J.B.'s,
The Trojans,
Mary Jane Girls,
Sarah Menescal,
X-101,
The Moleskins,
Hasil Adkins,
The Misunderstood,
The Pretty Things,
the Germs,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Sun City Girls,
Surgeon,
Ronan,
Crispy Ambulance,
Con Funk Shun,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bob Dylan,
Scan 7,
Severed Heads,
Fela Kuti,
The Barracudas,
Glenn Branca,
Darondo,
These Immortal Souls,
Brick,
The Fugs,
Radiohead,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Lyres,
Glambeats Corp.,
Pantytec,
Can,
David Bowie,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Piero Umiliani,
The Pop Group,
8 Eyed Spy,
Joensuu 1685,
Peter and Kerry,
MC5,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke, The Smoke.
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.