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 Somalia and from Toronto.
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 1968 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Boredoms to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All Pulsallama tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Larry & the Blue Notes record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a London Community Gospel Choir record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Five Americans,
Gil Scott Heron,
Babytalk,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
the Fania All-Stars,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Y Pants,
Colin Newman,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Excepter,
Gang of Four,
The Human League,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Lou Reed,
Pet Shop Boys,
Arab on Radar,
Jeff Lynne,
Essential Logic,
Lucky Dragons,
Bauhaus,
the Bar-Kays,
Howard Jones,
Shuggie Otis,
The Real Kids,
Radiopuhelimet,
Pulsallama,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Pierre Henry,
Bob Dylan,
Tomorrow,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Can,
Duran Duran,
Michelle Simonal,
Inner City,
Moss Icon,
A Flock of Seagulls,
These Immortal Souls,
Brand Nubian,
The Music Machine,
Nick Fraelich,
Masters at Work,
The Tremeloes,
Jerry's Kids,
Parry Music,
Scott Walker,
Dorothy Ashby,
Supertramp,
Rosa Yemen,
Das Ding,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Marcia Griffiths,
Brick,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Martian,
Sun City Girls,
The Birthday Party,
Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry.
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.