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 Luxembourg and from Lille.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bobby Sherman to the techno kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Eddi Front. All the underground hits.
All Absolute Body Control tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sun City Girls record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
Fela Kuti,
Technova,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Donald Byrd,
48th St. Collective,
Malaria!,
Slick Rick,
Schoolly D,
Bizarre Inc.,
Graham Central Station,
Pere Ubu,
Nico,
Siglo XX,
Big Daddy Kane,
Michelle Simonal,
La Düsseldorf,
Sonic Youth,
Soulsonic Force,
Monolake,
Nirvana,
Archie Shepp,
Joy Division,
Marmalade,
Yellowson,
Freddie Wadling,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Godley & Creme,
U.S. Maple,
Bill Wells,
The Busters,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Velvet Underground,
Cluster,
Saccharine Trust,
The Leaves,
Rekid,
Wire,
Dark Day,
Ten City,
Leonard Cohen,
The Doors,
Tears for Fears,
The Selecter,
The Angels of Light,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Young Rascals,
Dual Sessions,
Q and Not U,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Derrick May,
Tommy Roe,
the Swans,
Amon Düül,
The Blackbyrds,
Royal Trux,
Crime,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Scott Walker,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Country Teasers,
David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie.
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.