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 Eritrea and from Hong Kong.
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 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
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 Sugar Minott to the disco kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Cabaret Voltaire. All the underground hits.
All Joey Negro tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David Bowie 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rod Modell record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Gladiators,
OOIOO,
Agitation Free,
John Lydon,
Crooked Eye,
Los Fastidios,
Joe Finger,
Gang Gang Dance,
The Divine Comedy,
Spandau Ballet,
The Walker Brothers,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Newcleus,
Hot Snakes,
Electric Prunes,
kango's stein massive,
Sam Rivers,
Shoche,
Tim Buckley,
Mandrill,
Shuggie Otis,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Minor Threat,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
PIL,
Monks,
Silicon Teens,
Television,
The Doors,
Bobby Womack,
Drive Like Jehu,
Laurel Aitken,
Q and Not U,
The Victims,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Kayak,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Five Americans,
The Black Dice,
Jawbox,
Gil Scott Heron,
Liliput,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Camberwell Now,
Public Image Ltd.,
Dual Sessions,
Aural Exciters,
Skriet,
Circle Jerks,
Underground Resistance,
Rhythm & Sound,
Fad Gadget,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Blake Baxter,
Hashim,
Symarip,
The Cowsills,
Mary Jane Girls,
Piero Umiliani,
Y Pants,
The Blues Magoos,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.