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 Maldives and from Spokane.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Albert Ayler to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks. All the underground hits.
All Rosa Yemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angels of Light & Akron/Family 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Electric Prunes,
Warsaw,
Michelle Simonal,
Radiohead,
Fluxion,
Suburban Knight,
Bronski Beat,
The Alarm Clocks,
Warren Ellis,
Mars,
Todd Rundgren,
The Associates,
Pantytec,
ABBA,
Joe Finger,
Lower 48,
Jesper Dahlback,
The Happenings,
Donny Hathaway,
Brick,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Vladislav Delay,
Crime,
The Evens,
Liliput,
Scratch Acid,
Echospace,
KRS-One,
Whodini,
Roger Hodgson,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Carl Craig,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Susan Cadogan,
Glenn Branca,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Angels of Light,
Soulsonic Force,
The Blackbyrds,
Max Romeo,
Das Ding,
The Skatalites,
Isaac Hayes,
Minny Pops,
Eve St. Jones,
Nils Olav,
Ultravox,
In Retrospect,
Jeff Lynne,
Electric Prunes,
Circle Jerks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
the Swans,
The Dirtbombs,
Easy Going,
The Vogues,
Loose Ends,
FM Einheit,
Franke,
Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre, Harpers Bizarre.
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.