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 Luxembourg and from Manchester.
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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 clarinet 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 Black Bananas to the disco kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 B.T. Express. All the underground hits.
All Yellowson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roxette 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Young Marble Giants record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Qualms,
Minnie Riperton,
Groovy Waters,
Terry Callier,
Barry Ungar,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Graham Central Station,
Howard Jones,
Sun City Girls,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Blues Magoos,
Camouflage,
The Move,
Public Enemy,
Mission of Burma,
a-ha,
Television Personalities,
Ronan,
Rekid,
Lou Christie,
Black Pus,
Brothers Johnson,
Ice-T,
PIL,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Barclay James Harvest,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
the Swans,
Man Parrish,
Quadrant,
Gang Gang Dance,
X-102,
Shuggie Otis,
Nils Olav,
Erykah Badu,
Patti Smith,
Amon Düül,
David Axelrod,
the Slits,
B.T. Express,
Aswad,
Silicon Teens,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Crooked Eye,
The J.B.'s,
Bobby Womack,
Echospace,
Brand Nubian,
The Cowsills,
Nik Kershaw,
Excepter,
Pagans,
Sandy B,
Don Cherry,
Technova,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Nirvana,
CMW,
Pharoah Sanders,
Tomorrow,
The Fugs,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.