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 China and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
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 1962 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Sad Lovers and Giants to the rap 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 Laurel Aitken. All the underground hits.
All Brass Construction tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Toni Rubio 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
Tomorrow,
Pantaleimon,
the Normal,
Rod Modell,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Toni Rubio,
Qualms,
MC5,
Radio Birdman,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Drive Like Jehu,
Dave Gahan,
Minnie Riperton,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Quando Quango,
Trumans Water,
The Last Poets,
The Moleskins,
Nick Fraelich,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Joy Division,
Harmonia,
Tears for Fears,
Dorothy Ashby,
Prince Buster,
The Fortunes,
Bob Dylan,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Basic Channel,
Fela Kuti,
The Young Rascals,
Half Japanese,
Erasure,
The Monks,
The Gladiators,
Lalann,
Pulsallama,
a-ha,
Massinfluence,
Marcia Griffiths,
Barrington Levy,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
La Düsseldorf,
Pantytec,
The Star Department,
Jeff Lynne,
Neil Young,
The Velvet Underground,
Soft Machine,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Jesper Dahlback,
Saccharine Trust,
The Invisible,
Dawn Penn,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Y Pants,
Ultra Naté,
Ultimate Spinach,
Bush Tetras,
Joensuu 1685,
Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders, Outsiders.
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.