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 Panama and from Copenhagen.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Thompson Twins to the rap kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 La Düsseldorf. All the underground hits.
All The Skatalites tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every B.T. Express 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a the Swans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Second Layer,
The Dirtbombs,
Subhumans,
Gregory Isaacs,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Arthur Verocai,
Gang of Four,
Siglo XX,
Icehouse,
Steve Hackett,
Index,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Johnny Clarke,
Magma,
Joy Division,
Piero Umiliani,
Lyres,
The Gun Club,
Kenny Larkin,
Dead Boys,
The Moody Blues,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Spoonie Gee,
The Pop Group,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Gap Band,
Al Stewart,
Absolute Body Control,
Mo-Dettes,
Peter & Gordon,
Nirvana,
Skarface,
MC5,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Brass Construction,
Wasted Youth,
Danielle Patucci,
The Golliwogs,
Sex Pistols,
The Happenings,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Nick Fraelich,
the Swans,
Crispian St. Peters,
Reagan Youth,
Electric Prunes,
Wally Richardson,
Scientists,
Maleditus Sound,
Jacques Brel,
The Selecter,
Todd Terry,
the Germs,
One Last Wish,
The Slits,
Archie Shepp,
Simply Red,
Saccharine Trust,
Anthony Braxton,
Erasure,
Althea and Donna,
Andrew Hill,
Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented, Tres Demented.
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.