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 Iraq and from Accra.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Dead Boys to the jazz 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 Invisible. All the underground hits.
All Moebius tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ronnie Foster 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Be Bop Deluxe record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pagans,
Magazine,
Wasted Youth,
Rakim,
Tim Buckley,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Judy Mowatt,
Peter and Kerry,
The Cowsills,
The Gladiators,
The Monks,
ABC,
Bluetip,
The Fugs,
The Victims,
Minny Pops,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Black Dice,
China Crisis,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Arcadia,
Johnny Clarke,
Television Personalities,
Angry Samoans,
Excepter,
Country Teasers,
Faust,
Kayak,
Maurizio,
Rhythm & Sound,
Q and Not U,
Mandrill,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
June Days,
Soft Machine,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Smoke,
Pantytec,
The Misunderstood,
Isaac Hayes,
Crispian St. Peters,
New York Dolls,
Electric Prunes,
Q65,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Stiv Bators,
Bill Near,
The Wake,
The Slits,
Inner City,
Buzzcocks,
Chris Corsano,
Public Image Ltd.,
Vladislav Delay,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Nik Kershaw,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Basic Channel,
Gregory Isaacs,
Morten Harket,
Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo, Yazoo.
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.