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 Moldova and from Edmonton.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 arpeggiator 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 John Cale to the electroclash 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 Kings Of Tomorrow. All the underground hits.
All Fifty Foot Hose tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Green 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Techniques,
Hasil Adkins,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ralphi Rosario,
Los Fastidios,
Arcadia,
Con Funk Shun,
Rites of Spring,
The Barracudas,
The Index,
The Music Machine,
The Toasters,
Delon & Dalcan,
Roxy Music,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Radio Birdman,
Crispy Ambulance,
Gerry Rafferty,
Blancmange,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Eve St. Jones,
Radiohead,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
D'Angelo,
The Black Dice,
Minutemen,
Faraquet,
Sixth Finger,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Kerri Chandler,
The Flesh Eaters,
Oneida,
Donald Byrd,
Guru Guru,
Zero Boys,
Patti Smith,
Infiniti,
Letta Mbulu,
Jeru the Damaja,
Symarip,
Half Japanese,
Stetsasonic,
Wasted Youth,
The Zeros,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Fluxion,
Barrington Levy,
Danielle Patucci,
The Electric Prunes,
Camouflage,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Glenn Branca,
Aloha Tigers,
Rod Modell,
Gong,
Joey Negro,
Deadbeat,
Amazonics,
Archie Shepp,
Main Source,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel, Jacques Brel.
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.