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 Albania and from Halifax.
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 1968 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1983 at the first Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Yusef Lateef to the grime kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All New Age Steppers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every La Düsseldorf record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a H. Thieme record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
F. McDonald,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Swans,
X-102,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Kas Product,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Modern Lovers,
Girls At Our Best!,
Agitation Free,
Gang Starr,
The Offenders,
Colin Newman,
Nik Kershaw,
The J.B.'s,
Jeff Mills,
Bobby Byrd,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Index,
Aural Exciters,
Marcia Griffiths,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Moody Blues,
Grey Daturas,
The Zeros,
Loose Ends,
Hardrive,
Eric B and Rakim,
Joyce Sims,
Harry Pussy,
the Fania All-Stars,
Cecil Taylor,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Howard Jones,
Minutemen,
The Skatalites,
Roy Ayers,
The Busters,
Stetsasonic,
Parry Music,
Intrusion,
MC5,
Eric Dolphy,
Neu!,
Slave,
Theoretical Girls,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Brothers Johnson,
Radio Birdman,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Mummies,
Tubeway Army,
a-ha,
Alton Ellis,
Agent Orange,
Massinfluence,
Youth Brigade,
Television,
Sixth Finger,
Gastr Del Sol,
the Human League,
Television Personalities,
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground.
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.