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 Jamaica and from Woodstock.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Sao Paulo.
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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Eli Mardock to the rock 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 Arthur Verocai. All the underground hits.
All Sad Lovers and Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Idris Muhammad record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a DJ Sneak record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fugs,
Underground Resistance,
Tomorrow,
The New Christs,
Tubeway Army,
Black Bananas,
Rakim,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Warren Ellis,
The Offenders,
Bob Dylan,
Mad Mike,
The Barracudas,
Fad Gadget,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Marcia Griffiths,
Terry Callier,
Black Flag,
Tim Buckley,
Masters at Work,
The Martian,
Whodini,
Todd Terry,
The Victims,
The Slits,
Magma,
Lalo Schifrin,
Marvin Gaye,
Ituana,
Erykah Badu,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Agent Orange,
Saccharine Trust,
The Count Five,
Chrome,
Subhumans,
The Fortunes,
Dark Day,
Panda Bear,
The United States of America,
Warsaw,
The Durutti Column,
The Saints,
New Age Steppers,
The Tremeloes,
48th St. Collective,
Chris & Cosey,
Nation of Ulysses,
Brass Construction,
Marshall Jefferson,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Electric Prunes,
Piero Umiliani,
Aaron Thompson,
Avey Tare,
CMW,
The Slackers,
Aswad,
Kayak,
Heaven 17,
Barrington Levy,
Goldenarms,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens, Silicon Teens.
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.