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 St Lucia and from Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul 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 organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Funky Four + One to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 New York Dolls. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pierre Henry 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator 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 rhodes and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grauzone,
the Normal,
Blancmange,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Juan Atkins,
Charles Mingus,
Mo-Dettes,
Marine Girls,
John Foxx,
Gastr Del Sol,
X-Ray Spex,
New Age Steppers,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Crooked Eye,
Half Japanese,
the Association,
Minor Threat,
Judy Mowatt,
Flash Fearless,
ABC,
Lou Christie,
Roger Hodgson,
The Slits,
OOIOO,
Ultravox,
Black Pus,
Grey Daturas,
DJ Style,
Lightning Bolt,
Bauhaus,
Cecil Taylor,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Black Sheep,
Sun Ra,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Pylon,
the Fania All-Stars,
Sam Rivers,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Joe Finger,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Angry Samoans,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Seeds,
Goldenarms,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lebanon Hanover,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Young Marble Giants,
Royal Trux,
John Coltrane,
The Offenders,
The Doors,
Echospace,
Moss Icon,
The Busters,
Kerri Chandler,
Derrick May,
Toni Rubio,
Ossler,
The Misunderstood,
Josef K,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers, De La Soul & Jungle Brothers, De La Soul & Jungle Brothers, De La Soul & Jungle Brothers.
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.