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 Mali and from Accra.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Tom Verlaine 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 Von Mondo to the dance 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 Boogie Down Productions. All the underground hits.
All The Flesh Eaters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Stetsasonic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Althea and Donna record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
This Heat,
Country Teasers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
the Human League,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Five Americans,
The Index,
The Pop Group,
The Blues Magoos,
Reuben Wilson,
James White and The Blacks,
Iggy Pop,
Darondo,
Moss Icon,
Basic Channel,
Steve Hackett,
Severed Heads,
The Busters,
The Dave Clark Five,
MC5,
The Dead C,
Kenny Larkin,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Black Bananas,
Swans,
Suicide,
Derrick May,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Kinks,
Qualms,
Harry Pussy,
Cluster,
Soulsonic Force,
The Star Department,
Nico,
Lower 48,
Erasure,
Aswad,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Camouflage,
The Gladiators,
The Vogues,
Magazine,
The Seeds,
Dorothy Ashby,
New Age Steppers,
The Fire Engines,
Piero Umiliani,
Thompson Twins,
Ronan,
Skaos,
World's Most,
Isaac Hayes,
U.S. Maple,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Residents, The Residents, The Residents, The Residents.
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.