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 Bolivia and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Dirtbombs to the grime kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Lee Hazlewood. All the underground hits.
All Curtis Mayfield tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jeru the Damaja 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul Sonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Doors,
Guru Guru,
Crispian St. Peters,
Warren Ellis,
MC5,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jawbox,
D'Angelo,
Simply Red,
Lindisfarne,
Sound Behaviour,
Juan Atkins,
Soft Machine,
Scott Walker,
Grandmaster Flash,
the Swans,
Man Eating Sloth,
H. Thieme,
Bobby Sherman,
Tears for Fears,
John Cale,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Groovy Waters,
One Last Wish,
Brothers Johnson,
The Toasters,
Stockholm Monsters,
Stereo Dub,
Yaz,
Jacob Miller,
The Gun Club,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Peter & Gordon,
Radiohead,
Can,
Magazine,
Kurtis Blow,
China Crisis,
The Five Americans,
Absolute Body Control,
Matthew Bourne,
Stetsasonic,
Ralphi Rosario,
Altered Images,
Throbbing Gristle,
Gastr Del Sol,
Bush Tetras,
X-101,
The Cure,
Curtis Mayfield,
Nick Fraelich,
The Techniques,
The Cramps,
Marshall Jefferson,
E-Dancer,
Black Bananas,
Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth.
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.