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 Vanuatu and from Manila.
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 Cairo and Winnipeg.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Jesper Dahlbäck to the punk 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 Justin Hinds & The Dominoes. All the underground hits.
All Pierre Henry tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Surgeon record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Wasted Youth,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Alarm Clocks,
Lower 48,
The Standells,
Kool Moe Dee,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Angels of Light,
Royal Trux,
Godley & Creme,
Dorothy Ashby,
Blossom Toes,
Stereo Dub,
Scan 7,
Youth Brigade,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
MDC,
The Mummies,
Marine Girls,
Agent Orange,
Jawbox,
Faust,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
One Last Wish,
Scientists,
The Dead C,
Crime,
Monolake,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Brand Nubian,
Urselle,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Ohio Players,
Black Flag,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Desert Stars,
Throbbing Gristle,
Fear,
Dead Boys,
Technova,
Skaos,
Fad Gadget,
Pierre Henry,
Deakin,
Kenny Larkin,
B.T. Express,
The Beau Brummels,
cv313,
Soft Machine,
Flipper,
Tom Boy,
Goldenarms,
Guru Guru,
Livin' Joy,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Q and Not U,
Excepter,
The Saints,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Blancmange,
Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells, Bill Wells.
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.