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 Oman and from Spokane.
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 Philadelphia and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
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 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the funk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Harmonia. All the underground hits.
All Sun City Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mantronix record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cosmic Jokers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Delon & Dalcan,
the Human League,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Aloha Tigers,
Los Fastidios,
The Gun Club,
Barrington Levy,
Slick Rick,
Lebanon Hanover,
Minny Pops,
The Beau Brummels,
Kas Product,
Fela Kuti,
Urselle,
Sexual Harrassment,
Malaria!,
Duran Duran,
Radiohead,
Fatback Band,
Ludus,
John Coltrane,
Joensuu 1685,
Marc Almond,
Charles Mingus,
LL Cool J,
8 Eyed Spy,
The Gladiators,
Lindisfarne,
The Star Department,
Roxy Music,
The Black Dice,
Cal Tjader,
Bad Manners,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Drexciya,
Sun Ra,
Sixth Finger,
Moebius,
Heaven 17,
Clear Light,
The Move,
Mantronix,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Fortunes,
the Normal,
Rod Modell,
The Birthday Party,
Stockholm Monsters,
Pussy Galore,
Funkadelic,
Gang Starr,
Mandrill,
Oblivians,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Gang of Four,
The Smiths,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Funky Four + One,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Newcleus, Newcleus, Newcleus, Newcleus.
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.