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 Singapore and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Shanghai.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
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 Monks to the disco kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Mo-Dettes. All the underground hits.
All Malaria! tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Velvet Underground record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 a 808 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 snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
U.S. Maple,
Drexciya,
Stereo Dub,
John Holt,
Section 25,
Neil Young,
X-102,
Talk Talk,
Camberwell Now,
Swell Maps,
Pole,
Janne Schatter,
Fluxion,
The Durutti Column,
Aural Exciters,
Dave Gahan,
Deepchord,
Supertramp,
the Normal,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Laurel Aitken,
ABBA,
Youth Brigade,
Minor Threat,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
L. Decosne,
The Birthday Party,
A Certain Ratio,
Dual Sessions,
The Barracudas,
Idris Muhammad,
Jeru the Damaja,
Stockholm Monsters,
cv313,
Soulsonic Force,
Reagan Youth,
MDC,
Gregory Isaacs,
Goldenarms,
The Stooges,
Wasted Youth,
Excepter,
Tommy Roe,
Buzzcocks,
Barbara Tucker,
Spandau Ballet,
Icehouse,
Gichy Dan,
FM Einheit,
Porter Ricks,
Alison Limerick,
Agent Orange,
The Pretty Things,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
The Human League,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.