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 Mali and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Pere Ubu to the electroclash 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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All Reagan Youth 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 funk 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 an arpeggiator and a theremin 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 güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alton Ellis,
The Trojans,
Black Moon,
Arab on Radar,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Electric Prunes,
Byron Stingily,
Junior Murvin,
LL Cool J,
Roxette,
Steve Hackett,
Duran Duran,
Flipper,
Los Fastidios,
Matthew Bourne,
Rapeman,
Lakeside,
The Velvet Underground,
Crispian St. Peters,
FM Einheit,
Lebanon Hanover,
Mary Jane Girls,
David Axelrod,
The Fire Engines,
Monks,
Crooked Eye,
The United States of America,
The Black Dice,
Crime,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Kerrie Biddell,
Silicon Teens,
Hashim,
Robert Görl,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Black Sheep,
World's Most,
China Crisis,
Gabor Szabo,
Fat Boys,
Juan Atkins,
Cheater Slicks,
Kenny Larkin,
The Slackers,
Blancmange,
The Sonics,
Skarface,
Guru Guru,
Anthony Braxton,
Maleditus Sound,
Youth Brigade,
The Neon Judgement,
Unrelated Segments,
Japan,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Mummies,
Fatback Band,
The Tremeloes,
Lungfish,
Lalo Schifrin,
Peter & Gordon,
Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis, Warren Ellis.
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.