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 Kiribati and from Toronto.
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 1963 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 Captain Beefheart 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 Avey Tare to the disco kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Eyeless In Gaza. All the underground hits.
All JFA tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Peter and Kerry,
The Monochrome Set,
Bluetip,
Make Up,
Shuggie Otis,
Youth Brigade,
Visage,
Main Source,
Girls At Our Best!,
Parry Music,
Section 25,
The Gun Club,
Lou Reed,
The Techniques,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Bush Tetras,
The Birthday Party,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
The Mojo Men,
The American Breed,
The Golliwogs,
Dorothy Ashby,
LL Cool J,
Reagan Youth,
Byron Stingily,
Pylon,
Joe Smooth,
Matthew Halsall,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Martian,
Prince Buster,
Jacob Miller,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Gichy Dan,
Spandau Ballet,
The New Christs,
Cheater Slicks,
The Mummies,
Pierre Henry,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Warsaw,
Agitation Free,
ABBA,
The Music Machine,
Scion,
The Durutti Column,
Glenn Branca,
The Move,
The Moleskins,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
DNA,
The Young Rascals,
Joe Finger,
Mr. Review,
Ossler,
Mission of Burma,
Alphaville,
Don Cherry,
Iggy Pop,
The Smoke,
JFA, JFA, JFA, JFA.
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.