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 Pakistan and from Mumbai.
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 1966 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Theoretical Girls 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 The Cure. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Detroit Cobras,
Bobby Sherman,
Wings,
Camberwell Now,
These Immortal Souls,
Quadrant,
Harpers Bizarre,
the Bar-Kays,
Susan Cadogan,
the Sonics,
Basic Channel,
Sparks,
The Evens,
The Move,
Tommy Roe,
Bizarre Inc.,
Fluxion,
Essential Logic,
Scratch Acid,
Brass Construction,
Man Eating Sloth,
Funky Four + One,
Echospace,
Ultimate Spinach,
Danielle Patucci,
The Doobie Brothers,
Pussy Galore,
Section 25,
Dawn Penn,
The Young Rascals,
KRS-One,
Second Layer,
Babytalk,
DJ Style,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Chrome,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Warsaw,
World's Most,
The Wake,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Judy Mowatt,
Hoover,
The Zeros,
The Velvet Underground,
The Divine Comedy,
Rekid,
Sex Pistols,
D'Angelo,
Lebanon Hanover,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Searchers,
The Fortunes,
Bill Near,
Joy Division,
Lightning Bolt,
Altered Images,
The Last Poets,
Ronan,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Jandek,
The Gladiators,
Carl Craig,
The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C, The Dead C.
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.