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 Maldives and from Seoul.
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 1967 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Tokyo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 güiro 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 The Gladiators to the rap 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 Golliwogs. All the underground hits.
All Q65 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cluster record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a This Heat record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
The Gun Club,
Bluetip,
Cymande,
The Divine Comedy,
Mandrill,
Negative Approach,
The Tremeloes,
Nik Kershaw,
Sällskapet,
Funkadelic,
Sparks,
Lalo Schifrin,
Minnie Riperton,
Alphaville,
Malaria!,
Avey Tare,
Cal Tjader,
Wire,
Black Bananas,
The Moody Blues,
Crime,
Lyres,
Danielle Patucci,
Althea and Donna,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Velvet Underground,
Quantec,
Wolf Eyes,
Audionom,
Pagans,
Gil Scott Heron,
Isaac Hayes,
Los Fastidios,
Public Image Ltd.,
David Bowie,
Sixth Finger,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Misunderstood,
Vladislav Delay,
Animal Collective,
Reuben Wilson,
Jandek,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Index,
The Saints,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Max Romeo,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Freddie Wadling,
Half Japanese,
Hashim,
the Sonics,
This Heat,
DJ Style,
The Trojans,
The Monks,
Severed Heads,
Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat, Deadbeat.
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.