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 Iraq and from Beijing.
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 Jakarta and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pharoah Sanders to the disco 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 Alton Ellis. All the underground hits.
All CMW tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rhythim Is Rhythim record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fortunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Modern Lovers,
Maleditus Sound,
Monks,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Searchers,
The Names,
10cc,
Brass Construction,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Saints,
Girls At Our Best!,
Neil Young,
Zero Boys,
Yazoo,
The Five Americans,
Depeche Mode,
The Cure,
Quadrant,
the Normal,
David Axelrod,
Toni Rubio,
Alton Ellis,
Aural Exciters,
The Pop Group,
John Lydon,
Mandrill,
Mission of Burma,
Delon & Dalcan,
Erasure,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
AZ,
D'Angelo,
Flash Fearless,
the Human League,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kool Moe Dee,
Gang Gang Dance,
The United States of America,
The Black Dice,
T.S.O.L.,
The Busters,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Howard Jones,
The Knickerbockers,
Ronan,
R.M.O.,
Funky Four + One,
Niagra,
Soulsonic Force,
Echospace,
Fear,
Derrick Morgan,
The Alarm Clocks,
Excepter,
Isaac Hayes,
Jawbox,
Gang of Four,
Qualms,
Public Enemy,
The Fugs,
Von Mondo,
Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox, Ultravox.
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.