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 Lithuania and from Seoul.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the oboe 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 Magma to the disco 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 The Residents. All the underground hits.
All Ash Ra Tempel tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cosmic Jokers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dawn Penn record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Monks,
Darondo,
The Smoke,
Josef K,
Gong,
Throbbing Gristle,
Piero Umiliani,
Shuggie Otis,
Joe Smooth,
Quando Quango,
New Age Steppers,
Robert Hood,
Eddi Front,
Stiv Bators,
David Axelrod,
Severed Heads,
The Velvet Underground,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fatback Band,
Heaven 17,
The Blues Magoos,
Vainqueur,
Nik Kershaw,
Dennis Brown,
Ornette Coleman,
Arcadia,
Matthew Bourne,
Adolescents,
Q65,
The Martian,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Delta 5,
Colin Newman,
Au Pairs,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Peter and Kerry,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Swans,
Lucky Dragons,
The Mummies,
Television,
The Index,
Harry Pussy,
Susan Cadogan,
Cymande,
In Retrospect,
Brand Nubian,
Kaleidoscope,
the Human League,
The Evens,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Groovy Waters,
Sister Nancy,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Buzzcocks,
Y Pants,
Althea and Donna,
Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II, Amon Düül II.
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.