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 Gambia and from Lille.
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 1966 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Manila.
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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Magazine to the grunge kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Fad Gadget. All the underground hits.
All Silicon Teens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dirtbombs 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Y Pants,
Blossom Toes,
The Invisible,
The Searchers,
Fear,
Aloha Tigers,
Pussy Galore,
Barrington Levy,
John Holt,
Buzzcocks,
Roger Hodgson,
the Slits,
Judy Mowatt,
Arab on Radar,
Ken Boothe,
Marvin Gaye,
Al Stewart,
The Gladiators,
Reuben Wilson,
Kurtis Blow,
Soulsonic Force,
FM Einheit,
Ice-T,
June of 44,
Main Source,
Jeru the Damaja,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Jeff Lynne,
Black Flag,
Eric Dolphy,
Simply Red,
Boz Scaggs,
Thee Headcoats,
Tommy Roe,
Von Mondo,
In Retrospect,
Nico,
the Fania All-Stars,
Visage,
The Move,
Talk Talk,
Nils Olav,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Wasted Youth,
June Days,
Cybotron,
Country Teasers,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Marmalade,
Cluster,
X-101,
The Wake,
Blancmange,
The Human League,
Crooked Eye,
Bush Tetras,
Eyeless In Gaza,
New York Dolls,
Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish, Lungfish.
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.