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 Thailand and from Paris.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Woodstock and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the mellotron 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 The Velvet Underground to the grime 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 Motions. All the underground hits.
All Matthew Bourne tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every DNA 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Christie record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
Franke,
Magazine,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Talk Talk,
Underground Resistance,
the Association,
Gerry Rafferty,
Swans,
Crispian St. Peters,
Todd Rundgren,
The Neon Judgement,
Blake Baxter,
Severed Heads,
Dave Gahan,
This Heat,
Banda Bassotti,
Q and Not U,
Minny Pops,
The United States of America,
Babytalk,
Colin Newman,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Detroit Cobras,
Iggy Pop,
Tommy Roe,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Joensuu 1685,
Minor Threat,
Intrusion,
K-Klass,
Bill Wells,
Erasure,
Kayak,
Jeff Lynne,
Byron Stingily,
the Normal,
The Cramps,
The Names,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Whodini,
The Black Dice,
Liliput,
Derrick May,
Althea and Donna,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Freddie Wadling,
One Last Wish,
Gang Gang Dance,
Tres Demented,
The Fuzztones,
Dark Day,
Stockholm Monsters,
Mantronix,
Los Fastidios,
T. Rex,
Royal Trux,
Mr. Review,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Wire,
Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo, Max Romeo.
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.