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 Panama and from Spokane.
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 1968 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 sitar 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 Quadrant to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Todd Terry. All the underground hits.
All Wasted Youth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Young Rascals 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smoke record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
ABC,
The Skatalites,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
PIL,
The Names,
Chris Corsano,
Moss Icon,
The Raincoats,
Sugar Minott,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Spoonie Gee,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Gang Starr,
Heaven 17,
Circle Jerks,
Black Sheep,
Shuggie Otis,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
In Retrospect,
The Techniques,
The Motions,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Bronski Beat,
Wire,
Gastr Del Sol,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ronnie Foster,
Aural Exciters,
Radiopuhelimet,
The Move,
Toni Rubio,
Robert Wyatt,
Bill Near,
Lungfish,
The Standells,
Bob Dylan,
The Remains,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Star Department,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Saints,
Inner City,
New York Dolls,
Deepchord,
Howard Jones,
the Slits,
This Heat,
Jesper Dahlback,
Radio Birdman,
The Blackbyrds,
Danielle Patucci,
Donald Byrd,
Prince Buster,
Kerrie Biddell,
ABBA,
Q and Not U,
Fatback Band,
Mo-Dettes,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Judy Mowatt,
Sam Rivers,
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
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.