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 Eritrea and from Spokane.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Section 25 to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Fort Wilson Riot. All the underground hits.
All Camouflage tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jacob Miller record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 theremin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Model 500 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
48th St. Collective,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Dawn Penn,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Birthday Party,
Robert Wyatt,
The Cure,
Ornette Coleman,
Yazoo,
Scott Walker,
Ultravox,
Goldenarms,
The Techniques,
Marc Almond,
Cheater Slicks,
John Lydon,
Bauhaus,
Lindisfarne,
The Mummies,
Marshall Jefferson,
John Coltrane,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Pantytec,
Stereo Dub,
Sun Ra,
K-Klass,
the Normal,
Black Pus,
Gastr Del Sol,
Graham Central Station,
Boredoms,
Robert Hood,
Black Bananas,
Reagan Youth,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Judy Mowatt,
The Young Rascals,
The Grass Roots,
The Martian,
Pharoah Sanders,
Sexual Harrassment,
Anakelly,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Malaria!,
Unwound,
Bluetip,
Wally Richardson,
Niagra,
Infiniti,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Smoke,
Marmalade,
Delta 5,
Agent Orange,
Rakim,
Kaleidoscope,
Dual Sessions,
DNA,
Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding.
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.