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 Russia 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 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 808 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 Scott Walker to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Second Layer. All the underground hits.
All Teenage Jesus and the Jerks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DJ Style 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Freddie Wadling record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
The Slits,
Gastr Del Sol,
Grauzone,
The Vogues,
Funky Four + One,
Anakelly,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Birthday Party,
Funkadelic,
Intrusion,
Brick,
Soulsonic Force,
Nik Kershaw,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
The Names,
Connie Case,
Wire,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
John Coltrane,
F. McDonald,
T.S.O.L.,
These Immortal Souls,
Gang Green,
Lalann,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Max Romeo,
Crash Course in Science,
Johnny Osbourne,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
the Slits,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Henry Cow,
The Flesh Eaters,
Matthew Bourne,
Al Stewart,
Hashim,
The Smiths,
Flamin' Groovies,
Sun City Girls,
Charles Mingus,
The Doobie Brothers,
Faraquet,
Panda Bear,
Joyce Sims,
Aloha Tigers,
Slave,
Visage,
Cybotron,
The Angels of Light,
Sexual Harrassment,
U.S. Maple,
The Pretty Things,
Letta Mbulu,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Faust,
Soft Cell,
Davy DMX,
Agent Orange,
Black Sheep,
Rod Modell,
Steve Hackett,
The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Walker 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.