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 Botswana and from Bremen.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1976 at the first Chic practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Graham Central Station to the disco 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 Heaven 17. All the underground hits.
All Slave tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brothers Johnson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
China Crisis,
Don Cherry,
Scan 7,
Massinfluence,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Marine Girls,
Bobby Byrd,
The United States of America,
The Real Kids,
Subhumans,
Nils Olav,
The Star Department,
Au Pairs,
Alton Ellis,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
The Slits,
Minny Pops,
Blake Baxter,
These Immortal Souls,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Aloha Tigers,
The Fortunes,
The Birthday Party,
Brand Nubian,
Bobby Womack,
The Gun Club,
The Alarm Clocks,
Siglo XX,
The American Breed,
Motorama,
U.S. Maple,
Pantaleimon,
The Remains,
Metal Thangz,
Altered Images,
Throbbing Gristle,
Second Layer,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Eli Mardock,
Desert Stars,
Pere Ubu,
Harmonia,
The Moody Blues,
the Fania All-Stars,
Harpers Bizarre,
The Dave Clark Five,
Dual Sessions,
Ornette Coleman,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Nik Kershaw,
Terrestrial Tones,
Lou Christie,
Bluetip,
Hashim,
The Slackers,
the Sonics,
Byron Stingily,
Crime,
The Seeds,
K-Klass,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Skaos, Skaos, Skaos, Skaos.
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.