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 Burkina and from Cairo.
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 1967 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Jakarta.
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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 China Crisis to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Girls At Our Best!. All the underground hits.
All The Vogues tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Kool Moe Dee 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kayak,
Amazonics,
Warren Ellis,
David Bowie,
Ludus,
Sun City Girls,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Gang Starr,
T. Rex,
T.S.O.L.,
James White and The Blacks,
Essential Logic,
Visage,
Barbara Tucker,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Janne Schatter,
the Swans,
Johnny Osbourne,
Roy Ayers,
Traffic Nightmare,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Durutti Column,
Thee Headcoats,
Fear,
the Germs,
Aural Exciters,
Brothers Johnson,
Circle Jerks,
The Moody Blues,
Sound Behaviour,
Lou Christie,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Trumans Water,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Bootsy Collins,
Second Layer,
Eric Dolphy,
June of 44,
Todd Rundgren,
Bobby Byrd,
Crispy Ambulance,
X-Ray Spex,
Blake Baxter,
Technova,
Judy Mowatt,
The Selecter,
Thompson Twins,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Scan 7,
Newcleus,
H. Thieme,
Bronski Beat,
Eddi Front,
Piero Umiliani,
The Star Department,
Siglo XX,
Swell Maps,
The Flesh Eaters,
Robert Hood,
FM Einheit,
The Mojo Men,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.