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 Belize and from Jakarta.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum 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 Minutemen to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Albert Ayler. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric Dolphy,
The Dirtbombs,
Bob Dylan,
The New Christs,
John Lydon,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Tom Boy,
Chris Corsano,
Ken Boothe,
Rosa Yemen,
The Golliwogs,
Bauhaus,
Can,
Flash Fearless,
Brothers Johnson,
Motorama,
Jacques Brel,
John Coltrane,
Guru Guru,
Connie Case,
Alison Limerick,
Man Eating Sloth,
The United States of America,
Scion,
Electric Prunes,
Neil Young,
Kas Product,
Moss Icon,
Subhumans,
Second Layer,
Bootsy Collins,
Banda Bassotti,
Easy Going,
The Velvet Underground,
Outsiders,
Loose Ends,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Aswad,
Magma,
Rufus Thomas,
One Last Wish,
Mantronix,
Gastr Del Sol,
ABBA,
a-ha,
Alice Coltrane,
Skaos,
Babytalk,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Gichy Dan,
Warren Ellis,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Scratch Acid,
Ludus,
The Fortunes,
The Beau Brummels,
The Grass Roots,
The Neon Judgement,
Sun Ra,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.