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 Sierra Leone and from Toronto.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Man Parrish. All the underground hits.
All Leonard Cohen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Black Moon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Buckinghams record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Skaos,
Susan Cadogan,
Marshall Jefferson,
Scratch Acid,
The Smoke,
PIL,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Tomorrow,
The Smiths,
The Monks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Janne Schatter,
Negative Approach,
Derrick Morgan,
The Trojans,
Loose Ends,
Yusef Lateef,
Los Fastidios,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The J.B.'s,
Section 25,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Oblivians,
The Fuzztones,
Ossler,
Rod Modell,
Jandek,
Man Parrish,
Juan Atkins,
Blake Baxter,
Brothers Johnson,
Joe Smooth,
The New Christs,
Black Flag,
New Age Steppers,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Arab on Radar,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Tommy Roe,
Little Man,
DJ Style,
Pet Shop Boys,
Barry Ungar,
The Detroit Cobras,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bobby Byrd,
Adolescents,
The Neon Judgement,
Tres Demented,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
ABBA,
Whodini,
David Axelrod,
Marvin Gaye,
Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart, Al Stewart.
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.