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 Norway and from Lille.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 spring reverb 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 Surgeon to the rap kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Pet Shop Boys. All the underground hits.
All Fort Wilson Riot tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sparks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 clarinet and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb 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 Young Rascals,
Motorama,
Mandrill,
June of 44,
Freddie Wadling,
Ultra Naté,
Minnie Riperton,
James White and The Blacks,
Iggy Pop,
Basic Channel,
The Slackers,
Marc Almond,
The Moody Blues,
Tropical Tobacco,
Infiniti,
The Buckinghams,
Vainqueur,
Patti Smith,
Derrick May,
The Victims,
Warren Ellis,
Swell Maps,
Second Layer,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Funky Four + One,
Jawbox,
the Normal,
Organ,
John Cale,
Joyce Sims,
Prince Buster,
Rod Modell,
Derrick Morgan,
Rosa Yemen,
Carl Craig,
Funkadelic,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Judy Mowatt,
Yellowson,
B.T. Express,
Eden Ahbez,
Kevin Saunderson,
The Star Department,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Audionom,
The Slits,
Los Fastidios,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Mojo Men,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Pulsallama,
Sexual Harrassment,
the Association,
Davy DMX,
Cecil Taylor,
Juan Atkins,
Qualms,
The Skatalites,
Con Funk Shun,
DNA,
Suburban Knight,
Lalo Schifrin, Lalo Schifrin, Lalo Schifrin, Lalo Schifrin.
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.