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 Mexico and from Jakarta.
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 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Lyon.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 The Star Department to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 The Sisters of Mercy. All the underground hits.
All Brass Construction tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Mad Mike record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gladiators record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Harpers Bizarre,
the Bar-Kays,
Dawn Penn,
New Age Steppers,
New Order,
The Saints,
Eyeless In Gaza,
This Heat,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Desert Stars,
The Residents,
Prince Buster,
the Fania All-Stars,
Man Eating Sloth,
Lebanon Hanover,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Hashim,
Eurythmics,
Ultravox,
Radiopuhelimet,
Gichy Dan,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Crooked Eye,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Second Layer,
The Modern Lovers,
Interpol,
Quantec,
Brick,
Adolescents,
Procol Harum,
Organ,
Main Source,
Dead Boys,
The Victims,
Kas Product,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Black Flag,
The Gladiators,
Lakeside,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Pantaleimon,
Funky Four + One,
Jacob Miller,
Dorothy Ashby,
Avey Tare,
Piero Umiliani,
Matthew Bourne,
The Walker Brothers,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Echospace,
Glenn Branca,
Fugazi,
Ultra Naté,
Nas,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Ohio Players,
Funkadelic,
Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy, Sister Nancy.
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.