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 St Lucia and from Winnipeg.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Hong Kong.
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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Faraquet to the grunge 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 Television Personalities. All the underground hits.
All Monolake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
A Certain Ratio,
Tim Buckley,
Man Eating Sloth,
the Soft Cell,
One Last Wish,
The Wake,
The Knickerbockers,
Cameo,
Gang Starr,
The Toasters,
Black Sheep,
Magma,
Alton Ellis,
The Gap Band,
Country Teasers,
Symarip,
June of 44,
Donny Hathaway,
Sandy B,
Tubeway Army,
Ralphi Rosario,
Camberwell Now,
The Monks,
Lou Reed,
The Move,
The Walker Brothers,
The Sound,
Kerri Chandler,
Moebius,
Motorama,
Kevin Saunderson,
Rites of Spring,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Faraquet,
Television Personalities,
Lakeside,
Oneida,
the Swans,
Bauhaus,
Amon Düül II,
Camouflage,
Bronski Beat,
Joensuu 1685,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Offenders,
Ohio Players,
Black Moon,
PIL,
Lalann,
Mars,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ponytail,
Goldenarms,
Mantronix,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Visage,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pierre Henry,
Malaria!,
The Durutti Column,
The Monochrome Set,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department.
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.