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 Malta and from Glasgow.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Procol Harum to the funk kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Liliput. All the underground hits.
All The Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Last Poets record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang On A Can record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Shuggie Otis,
Donald Byrd,
ABC,
The Red Krayola,
Ronan,
Loose Ends,
X-101,
The Vogues,
Donny Hathaway,
Roxette,
Gil Scott Heron,
Tropical Tobacco,
Howard Jones,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Flipper,
Marvin Gaye,
The Gap Band,
Matthew Bourne,
Bobby Hutcherson,
The Blackbyrds,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Ralphi Rosario,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Gun Club,
Wire,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Busters,
Lower 48,
Kayak,
Quantec,
Brothers Johnson,
Jeff Lynne,
U.S. Maple,
Piero Umiliani,
Yusef Lateef,
Barrington Levy,
Kas Product,
Tres Demented,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Peter & Gordon,
Albert Ayler,
The Music Machine,
Anakelly,
The Gladiators,
Fatback Band,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
It's A Beautiful Day,
the Slits,
Sister Nancy,
Swell Maps,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Glenn Branca,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Letta Mbulu,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Sonics,
Bootsy Collins,
The Cramps,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Colin Newman,
Moebius, Moebius, Moebius, Moebius.
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.