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 Bolivia and from Mexico City.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 John Holt to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Isaac Hayes. All the underground hits.
All Warren Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 spring reverb and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Wire record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Suburban Knight,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Basic Channel,
Jeff Mills,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Neon Judgement,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lindisfarne,
MDC,
Swell Maps,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Quantec,
Spoonie Gee,
Erasure,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Gang Green,
Model 500,
Kool Moe Dee,
Desert Stars,
Fela Kuti,
In Retrospect,
Jandek,
48th St. Collective,
Ultra Naté,
Nico,
The Smiths,
June Days,
Bauhaus,
Section 25,
Cymande,
Pere Ubu,
Minnie Riperton,
The Blues Magoos,
Rapeman,
Babytalk,
Japan,
Juan Atkins,
The Buckinghams,
AZ,
The Happenings,
Terry Callier,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The American Breed,
Kurtis Blow,
Siglo XX,
Johnny Clarke,
Altered Images,
Gang Starr,
The Sound,
Charles Mingus,
Parry Music,
Los Fastidios,
Mo-Dettes,
The Fall,
Eden Ahbez,
Echospace,
Susan Cadogan,
Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners, Bad Manners.
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.