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 Tuvalu and from Milan.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Nas to the disco 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 Archie Shepp. All the underground hits.
All Gichy Dan tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Joensuu 1685 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Litter record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Intrusion,
Dawn Penn,
Lalo Schifrin,
Arab on Radar,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Angels of Light,
Juan Atkins,
Livin' Joy,
Stereo Dub,
Agitation Free,
Gerry Rafferty,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Eric Dolphy,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sonny Sharrock,
the Fania All-Stars,
Traffic Nightmare,
The Dave Clark Five,
Neil Young,
Brand Nubian,
Fear,
Subhumans,
The Slits,
Sound Behaviour,
Barclay James Harvest,
Metal Thangz,
Icehouse,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
David Axelrod,
Fugazi,
Sexual Harrassment,
Blancmange,
Iggy Pop,
The Doors,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
X-102,
The Trojans,
Wings,
a-ha,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Scan 7,
Niagra,
The Cramps,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Johnny Clarke,
Piero Umiliani,
Black Flag,
Faraquet,
Agent Orange,
Tubeway Army,
Buzzcocks,
Amazonics,
Tom Boy,
Rites of Spring,
Average White Band,
Frankie Knuckles,
The United States of America,
JFA,
Ronnie Foster,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Soft Machine,
Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott.
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.