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 Bulgaria and from Shanghai.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Yellowson to the jazz 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 The Wake. All the underground hits.
All Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sad Lovers and Giants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 clarinet and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Johnny Osbourne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nas,
Q65,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Roy Ayers,
Rosa Yemen,
the Germs,
A Certain Ratio,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Offenders,
MC5,
Lower 48,
Alton Ellis,
The Walker Brothers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Tropical Tobacco,
Scrapy,
Crispy Ambulance,
Tim Buckley,
Gang Gang Dance,
Stetsasonic,
the Soft Cell,
Big Daddy Kane,
Radiohead,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Last Poets,
Fifty Foot Hose,
The Standells,
The Raincoats,
Freddie Wadling,
The Wake,
Country Teasers,
LL Cool J,
Dark Day,
Mandrill,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Josef K,
The Busters,
Dennis Brown,
Robert Görl,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Quantec,
Lebanon Hanover,
Delta 5,
Buzzcocks,
Sonny Sharrock,
Monks,
Black Pus,
Mantronix,
Pet Shop Boys,
Visage,
Drive Like Jehu,
La Düsseldorf,
The Techniques,
Tubeway Army,
Jeff Mills,
The Saints,
The Tremeloes,
The Five Americans,
Ultravox,
Peter & Gordon,
Underground Resistance, Underground Resistance, Underground Resistance, Underground Resistance.
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.