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 South Sudan and from Stockholm.
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 1969 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Fatback Band to the grime 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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Rod Modell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Roger Hodgson record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 808 and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Graham Central Station record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
Ludus,
Prince Buster,
Maleditus Sound,
Altered Images,
Japan,
Dark Day,
Josef K,
Robert Hood,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Drexciya,
Sam Rivers,
Amon Düül,
Lyres,
Circle Jerks,
The Sonics,
Peter and Kerry,
Rapeman,
Bobby Sherman,
Colin Newman,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Derrick Morgan,
DNA,
Sexual Harrassment,
Joyce Sims,
Man Eating Sloth,
China Crisis,
Ponytail,
Quantec,
Drive Like Jehu,
Bronski Beat,
The Cure,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Harpers Bizarre,
DJ Style,
the Swans,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Cymande,
Warsaw,
The Invisible,
Panda Bear,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
New York Dolls,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Roxette,
Robert Wyatt,
The Barracudas,
Minutemen,
Monolake,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Grauzone,
Wings,
T. Rex,
Bobby Womack,
The Smoke,
The Raincoats,
T.S.O.L.,
Scratch Acid,
Crispian St. Peters,
Make Up, Make Up, Make Up, Make Up.
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.