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 Vietnam and from Bologna.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 mellotron 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 Tres Demented to the grunge kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All Groovy Waters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Organ record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 rhodes and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joy Division record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gang of Four,
Qualms,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Delta 5,
David Bowie,
Bauhaus,
Niagra,
kango's stein massive,
Camberwell Now,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Carl Craig,
Idris Muhammad,
Swans,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Depeche Mode,
Freddie Wadling,
Intrusion,
Donny Hathaway,
Derrick May,
Public Enemy,
Letta Mbulu,
Little Man,
Mary Jane Girls,
Graham Central Station,
Flipper,
Barry Ungar,
X-101,
The Invisible,
Excepter,
Sound Behaviour,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Maurizio,
Alphaville,
The Pretty Things,
Lalo Schifrin,
Susan Cadogan,
ABC,
The Divine Comedy,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Standells,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Count Five,
Roxy Music,
Ponytail,
Mad Mike,
The Five Americans,
MDC,
Electric Prunes,
Lakeside,
Cameo,
Fad Gadget,
Boredoms,
Technova,
The Gories,
Traffic Nightmare,
Barrington Levy,
Marvin Gaye,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Ronnie Foster,
Eurythmics,
Matthew Bourne,
Lindisfarne,
Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Lynne.
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.