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 Cambodia and from Cairo.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Hasil Adkins to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Los Fastidios. All the underground hits.
All Letta Mbulu tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Groovy Waters record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yusef Lateef,
Bush Tetras,
Rites of Spring,
Joyce Sims,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Gang of Four,
B.T. Express,
Young Marble Giants,
Country Joe & The Fish,
The Barracudas,
Ituana,
Theoretical Girls,
Fela Kuti,
The Dirtbombs,
Television,
Sister Nancy,
Model 500,
Tim Buckley,
Reuben Wilson,
Magma,
Y Pants,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Television Personalities,
The Dead C,
Freddie Wadling,
Bang On A Can,
X-102,
Talk Talk,
Ponytail,
Heaven 17,
Cymande,
Niagra,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Robert Hood,
Nas,
Erykah Badu,
X-101,
Symarip,
Slick Rick,
Shuggie Otis,
Ultra Naté,
Yellowson,
Avey Tare,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Surgeon,
Roger Hodgson,
Nik Kershaw,
Depeche Mode,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Soulsonic Force,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Piero Umiliani,
Harpers Bizarre,
Gang Starr,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
These Immortal Souls,
Thee Headcoats,
Janne Schatter,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Brick,
Ken Boothe,
Donald Byrd,
Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet, Faraquet.
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.