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 Zimbabwe and from Spokane.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Be Bop Deluxe to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 The Dave Clark Five. All the underground hits.
All The Monochrome Set tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Wake,
Crime,
Brass Construction,
Rakim,
The Invisible,
Harpers Bizarre,
Liliput,
Shuggie Otis,
Talk Talk,
Parry Music,
The Smoke,
Grandmaster Flash,
Maurizio,
Index,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Soft Machine,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Mojo Men,
Boredoms,
Quadrant,
Banda Bassotti,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Fear,
Bobby Byrd,
Lyres,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Smiths,
Ken Boothe,
Masters at Work,
AZ,
Yellowson,
The Pop Group,
Flash Fearless,
The Names,
Sugar Minott,
B.T. Express,
The Toasters,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Tropical Tobacco,
Sun Ra,
cv313,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Janne Schatter,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Smog,
The Electric Prunes,
Harry Pussy,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Dave Clark Five,
Drexciya,
Rhythm & Sound,
Girls At Our Best!,
Cecil Taylor,
OOIOO,
Pantaleimon,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Big Daddy Kane.
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.