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 Belarus and from Bremen.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1962 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 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 Hoover to the rock 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 The Sonics. All the underground hits.
All The Neon Judgement tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
B.T. Express,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eurythmics,
Mandrill,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Amon Düül,
Joyce Sims,
The Sonics,
Pharoah Sanders,
Duran Duran,
Cheater Slicks,
Davy DMX,
The Detroit Cobras,
Vladislav Delay,
The Slackers,
Bootsy Collins,
cv313,
Sun City Girls,
Toni Rubio,
The Star Department,
Ronnie Foster,
Barrington Levy,
X-101,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
June of 44,
X-Ray Spex,
Negative Approach,
Magma,
Peter and Kerry,
Cecil Taylor,
Mark Hollis,
Soft Machine,
Franke,
The Flesh Eaters,
the Slits,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
John Foxx,
Pierre Henry,
Patti Smith,
The Fuzztones,
Peter & Gordon,
Warsaw,
James White and The Blacks,
Malaria!,
Basic Channel,
New Order,
Porter Ricks,
Ten City,
Derrick Morgan,
Massinfluence,
Magazine,
Severed Heads,
Crash Course in Science,
John Cale,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
EPMD,
Sparks,
The Dave Clark Five,
Boz Scaggs,
Byron Stingily,
Liliput, Liliput, Liliput, Liliput.
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.