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 Trinidad & Tobago 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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Pantaleimon. All the underground hits.
All Eyeless In Gaza tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Banda Bassotti record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Blancmange record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Godley & Creme,
Harmonia,
Hasil Adkins,
Delta 5,
The Human League,
Von Mondo,
Minnie Riperton,
X-102,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Icehouse,
Lou Reed,
Throbbing Gristle,
Bobby Womack,
Niagra,
Prince Buster,
Todd Terry,
Flash Fearless,
Fela Kuti,
The Blues Magoos,
Altered Images,
Subhumans,
The American Breed,
Con Funk Shun,
Dennis Brown,
Tubeway Army,
Massinfluence,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
E-Dancer,
Sugar Minott,
Lyres,
Maurizio,
Arab on Radar,
Jawbox,
Curtis Mayfield,
Buzzcocks,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Bush Tetras,
The Real Kids,
Wolf Eyes,
The Techniques,
Bill Wells,
The Count Five,
Bill Near,
The Shadows of Knight,
Crispy Ambulance,
Avey Tare,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
This Heat,
Cameo,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Brothers Johnson,
Pulsallama,
Scrapy,
June Days,
Circle Jerks,
Jeff Lynne,
Carl Craig,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Sonic Youth,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pet Shop Boys,
Can,
Funkadelic,
Visage,
Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader.
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.