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 Korea South and from London.
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 1965 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 T. Rex 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 The Last Poets. All the underground hits.
All The Wake tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bluetip 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The United States of America record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hoover,
Quantec,
Marvin Gaye,
Grandmaster Flash,
Depeche Mode,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Brothers Johnson,
Spandau Ballet,
Todd Terry,
The Martian,
The Searchers,
Eric Dolphy,
Slick Rick,
The Busters,
JFA,
Albert Ayler,
Kerrie Biddell,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
The Fire Engines,
Josef K,
Suicide,
Moss Icon,
8 Eyed Spy,
Outsiders,
Mo-Dettes,
Liliput,
Urselle,
Alice Coltrane,
Procol Harum,
Scratch Acid,
The American Breed,
Peter and Kerry,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Youth Brigade,
Gichy Dan,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Moleskins,
The Doobie Brothers,
Dennis Brown,
The Trojans,
Nick Fraelich,
Black Pus,
Letta Mbulu,
Michelle Simonal,
Animal Collective,
Mark Hollis,
Matthew Halsall,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Joe Finger,
Soft Cell,
Boz Scaggs,
Eden Ahbez,
Moebius,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bob Dylan,
Buzzcocks,
UT,
The Techniques,
Brand Nubian,
Swell Maps,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Isaac Hayes.
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.