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 Montenegro and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1966 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Flesh Eaters to the crunk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Theoretical Girls. All the underground hits.
All The American Breed tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Aaron Thompson 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a spring reverb 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 spring reverb and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a spring reverb.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fortunes,
The Blackbyrds,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Eli Mardock,
PIL,
Pole,
Lalo Schifrin,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Marvin Gaye,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Second Layer,
The Barracudas,
Michelle Simonal,
John Coltrane,
Stetsasonic,
Los Fastidios,
Section 25,
Niagra,
Erykah Badu,
Tropical Tobacco,
This Heat,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Con Funk Shun,
Kerri Chandler,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Frankie Knuckles,
Excepter,
Robert Hood,
June Days,
Negative Approach,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Visage,
Juan Atkins,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Knickerbockers,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Bush Tetras,
Brothers Johnson,
Schoolly D,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Slackers,
Susan Cadogan,
Television Personalities,
Letta Mbulu,
Von Mondo,
Nirvana,
Godley & Creme,
Vladislav Delay,
The Blues Magoos,
Flamin' Groovies,
10cc,
The Zeros,
AZ,
Bobby Womack,
Rakim,
Anthony Braxton,
The Pretty Things,
Q and Not U,
Tomorrow,
Can, Can, Can, Can.
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.