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 Portugal and from Lagos.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 clarinet 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 Kevin Saunderson to the dance kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Move. All the underground hits.
All Cymande tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sällskapet record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Erykah Badu,
Suburban Knight,
Peter and Kerry,
Althea and Donna,
Michelle Simonal,
The Zeros,
48th St. Collective,
Barbara Tucker,
Roy Ayers,
Sixth Finger,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Fela Kuti,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Camberwell Now,
Lee Hazlewood,
Arthur Verocai,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Aswad,
Rapeman,
The Real Kids,
Johnny Osbourne,
Outsiders,
Marmalade,
Bad Manners,
Sonic Youth,
Popol Vuh,
Colin Newman,
Robert Görl,
Peter & Gordon,
Eli Mardock,
Malaria!,
Mantronix,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Make Up,
Mars,
Main Source,
The Cramps,
Spandau Ballet,
Derrick Morgan,
Avey Tare,
Qualms,
Symarip,
Wire,
The Vogues,
Lebanon Hanover,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Moody Blues,
Procol Harum,
The Leaves,
Eddi Front,
Quando Quango,
Q65,
Mandrill,
Sandy B,
Simply Red,
Mad Mike,
The Kinks,
Das Ding,
Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia, Arcadia.
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.