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 Comoros and from Madrid.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Portland.
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 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 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 Albert Ayler to the rock 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 Mad Mike. All the underground hits.
All Joensuu 1685 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every X-101 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Donny Hathaway record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Whodini,
Rufus Thomas,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
EPMD,
Schoolly D,
Niagra,
X-102,
Stiv Bators,
Brand Nubian,
Inner City,
Tomorrow,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Popol Vuh,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Pop Group,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Glenn Branca,
Howard Jones,
The Electric Prunes,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Star Department,
Severed Heads,
Deepchord,
Lungfish,
Section 25,
Matthew Bourne,
the Fania All-Stars,
New York Dolls,
Lou Reed,
Tears for Fears,
Bobby Womack,
The Knickerbockers,
Soft Cell,
Buzzcocks,
The Blackbyrds,
Delta 5,
Monolake,
Carl Craig,
Maleditus Sound,
Royal Trux,
Thee Headcoats,
Easy Going,
Crispy Ambulance,
Groovy Waters,
The Durutti Column,
Sandy B,
Accadde A,
Grandmaster Flash,
Lucky Dragons,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Yaz,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
a-ha,
Camberwell Now,
Sonic Youth,
Shoche,
Cecil Taylor,
Blancmange,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Searchers,
Second Layer,
Japan,
Erykah Badu,
Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection.
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.