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 Kyrgyzstan and from Mumbai.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
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 Agitation Free to the grime 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 Sun Ra. All the underground hits.
All Erykah Badu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Golliwogs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ralphi Rosario record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dead C,
The Golliwogs,
Kerrie Biddell,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Anakelly,
Drive Like Jehu,
Blake Baxter,
Television,
Erasure,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
The Fuzztones,
DJ Sneak,
Dual Sessions,
Joensuu 1685,
X-102,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Surgeon,
Leonard Cohen,
10cc,
One Last Wish,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
U.S. Maple,
Moby Grape,
Jeff Mills,
Oneida,
Deepchord,
X-101,
Cymande,
Man Parrish,
Unrelated Segments,
Cal Tjader,
Tim Buckley,
Deadbeat,
Lou Christie,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Gichy Dan,
Magazine,
Harry Pussy,
Jerry's Kids,
D'Angelo,
Youth Brigade,
the Association,
Wasted Youth,
EPMD,
Technova,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Dorothy Ashby,
Banda Bassotti,
Danielle Patucci,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Kas Product,
Crooked Eye,
La Düsseldorf,
Eric B and Rakim,
Severed Heads,
James White and The Blacks,
Aaron Thompson,
Mad Mike,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.