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 China and from Lagos.
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 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Columbus.
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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Lou Reed to the electroclash kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Litter. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pere Ubu 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James White and The Blacks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Lydon,
The Mojo Men,
Pagans,
Buzzcocks,
Audionom,
Mantronix,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Man Parrish,
Pole,
Ludus,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Mummies,
Amon Düül II,
Von Mondo,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
PIL,
Roxy Music,
Public Image Ltd.,
KRS-One,
The Happenings,
Stetsasonic,
Sparks,
Loose Ends,
The Fall,
Traffic Nightmare,
Faust,
Archie Shepp,
Niagra,
The Offenders,
Todd Rundgren,
Lightning Bolt,
Easy Going,
Brick,
Hoover,
F. McDonald,
Royal Trux,
Index,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Ornette Coleman,
Alice Coltrane,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Scott Walker,
Marcia Griffiths,
Radio Birdman,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Slits,
The Trojans,
Graham Central Station,
the Slits,
Lou Christie,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Techniques,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Gories,
Mad Mike,
Bob Dylan,
The Names,
June Days,
Boredoms,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter, Blake Baxter.
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.