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 Suriname and from Accra.
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 1963 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Sam Rivers to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 X-101. All the underground hits.
All Excepter tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scott Walker + Sunn O))) record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rites of Spring record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Swans,
Dorothy Ashby,
Blake Baxter,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Ultravox,
H. Thieme,
Dual Sessions,
Altered Images,
Joyce Sims,
Scott Walker,
Bush Tetras,
Archie Shepp,
Basic Channel,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Gastr Del Sol,
Alison Limerick,
Laurel Aitken,
Bootsy Collins,
Toni Rubio,
Echospace,
Index,
AZ,
X-102,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Subhumans,
Henry Cow,
Crash Course in Science,
the Germs,
The Raincoats,
Kurtis Blow,
Bluetip,
Nirvana,
Jandek,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
A Certain Ratio,
Dennis Brown,
The Human League,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Leonard Cohen,
Tim Buckley,
Rosa Yemen,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Bill Wells,
A Flock of Seagulls,
The Gories,
Guru Guru,
Man Parrish,
Jacques Brel,
Agent Orange,
Big Daddy Kane,
T.S.O.L.,
Gang Green,
Simply Red,
Kenny Larkin,
Gang of Four,
Ronnie Foster,
Animal Collective,
Quadrant,
Essential Logic,
Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!, Malaria!.
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.