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 Fiji and from Bremen.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Houston.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the oboe 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 Darondo to the punk 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 Flipper. All the underground hits.
All Marmalade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kaleidoscope record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kaleidoscope,
Bronski Beat,
Kerrie Biddell,
Wings,
Circle Jerks,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Al Stewart,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
The Motions,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Patti Smith,
Fad Gadget,
A Certain Ratio,
Eddi Front,
The Fall,
Bob Dylan,
The Angels of Light,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Tim Buckley,
Silicon Teens,
Toni Rubio,
Whodini,
ABC,
Eric Copeland,
X-Ray Spex,
Jeff Lynne,
Can,
Icehouse,
Charles Mingus,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sun Ra,
Peter and Kerry,
Aloha Tigers,
The Mojo Men,
The Cure,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Grandmaster Flash,
Godley & Creme,
Judy Mowatt,
Little Man,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
the Human League,
The Martian,
the Germs,
Buzzcocks,
The Modern Lovers,
Absolute Body Control,
Johnny Clarke,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Gladiators,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Althea and Donna,
Camouflage,
Intrusion,
Ponytail,
Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U, Q and Not U.
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.