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 Russia and from Toronto.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Moss Icon to the rock 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 Lou Christie. All the underground hits.
All Ultramagnetic MC's tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sam Rivers record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 theremin and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bill Near record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marshall Jefferson,
Avey Tare,
Gang of Four,
the Germs,
Marine Girls,
The Last Poets,
Crispy Ambulance,
The Index,
Agent Orange,
The Black Dice,
Dawn Penn,
Josef K,
Agitation Free,
The Moleskins,
Ralphi Rosario,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Von Mondo,
Ten City,
Laurel Aitken,
Carl Craig,
Piero Umiliani,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Mission of Burma,
The Evens,
Nik Kershaw,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Cramps,
Godley & Creme,
Colin Newman,
D'Angelo,
Leonard Cohen,
Danielle Patucci,
EPMD,
New Age Steppers,
Y Pants,
Inner City,
Amon Düül II,
Cecil Taylor,
One Last Wish,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Pretty Things,
Depeche Mode,
Scientists,
The Moody Blues,
Fat Boys,
Jawbox,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Arthur Verocai,
This Heat,
The Shadows of Knight,
Radio Birdman,
Letta Mbulu,
Jandek,
Dennis Brown,
Boogie Down Productions,
Brothers Johnson,
Ultra Naté,
The Dirtbombs,
Michelle Simonal,
Brand Nubian,
Youth Brigade,
Bizarre Inc.,
Nation of Ulysses,
Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction, Brass Construction.
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.