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 Turkey and from Philadelphia.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Shoche to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Misunderstood. All the underground hits.
All Slick Rick tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mandrill record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Black Flag,
Eddi Front,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Patti Smith,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Real Kids,
Interpol,
Sällskapet,
Parry Music,
Lyres,
The Walker Brothers,
Glenn Branca,
Goldenarms,
A Certain Ratio,
The Fortunes,
Grauzone,
Jacob Miller,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Alarm Clocks,
The Young Rascals,
Piero Umiliani,
the Normal,
Nils Olav,
The Knickerbockers,
ABC,
MDC,
Gang of Four,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Cowsills,
Lee Hazlewood,
Pierre Henry,
Talk Talk,
Groovy Waters,
Mars,
Essential Logic,
The Gories,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Fall,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Basic Channel,
Sugar Minott,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Lebanon Hanover,
Hoover,
Drive Like Jehu,
Susan Cadogan,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Lower 48,
Amazonics,
Royal Trux,
Tears for Fears,
Ultimate Spinach,
Wally Richardson,
New York Dolls,
The Fuzztones,
Infiniti,
Janne Schatter,
Johnny Osbourne,
Man Parrish,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.