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 Suriname and from Delhi.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Johnny Osbourne to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. All the underground hits.
All The Sisters of Mercy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Monks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fatback Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Victims,
Section 25,
Crooked Eye,
Mission of Burma,
The Doors,
Morten Harket,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Simply Red,
Rakim,
Arthur Verocai,
DJ Sneak,
Shoche,
Symarip,
Dead Boys,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Saints,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Loose Ends,
Anthony Braxton,
Lightning Bolt,
The Angels of Light,
Nico,
Bronski Beat,
Archie Shepp,
Sam Rivers,
Delta 5,
Urselle,
Blancmange,
Oblivians,
Maleditus Sound,
The Slackers,
The Shadows of Knight,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Gap Band,
Ralphi Rosario,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Mad Mike,
The Human League,
Fear,
Dual Sessions,
The Cowsills,
Television,
The Birthday Party,
Vladislav Delay,
Nation of Ulysses,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Minutemen,
Average White Band,
Bobby Sherman,
Jeff Lynne,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Fad Gadget,
Altered Images,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Dave Clark Five,
Saccharine Trust,
Lou Christie,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Yaz,
Nirvana,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
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.