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 Bhutan and from Johannesburg.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Hong Kong.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Move to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Nirvana. All the underground hits.
All Young Marble Giants tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Adolescents record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lafayette Afro Rock Band record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soulsonic Force,
Nas,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
The Fall,
the Soft Cell,
In Retrospect,
Echospace,
Peter and Kerry,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Bronski Beat,
Dark Day,
The Detroit Cobras,
Graham Central Station,
Fatback Band,
Cybotron,
Public Enemy,
Andrew Hill,
John Coltrane,
Roxette,
Sixth Finger,
Spoonie Gee,
Oblivians,
Sister Nancy,
UT,
Cluster,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Erasure,
Arthur Verocai,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Laurel Aitken,
The Wake,
Donny Hathaway,
China Crisis,
Agent Orange,
Brick,
The Smoke,
The Durutti Column,
Neu!,
Skriet,
OOIOO,
Oneida,
The Cowsills,
Bootsy Collins,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Black Sheep,
The Gun Club,
Drive Like Jehu,
Joe Smooth,
The Human League,
Eddi Front,
Mad Mike,
Sonny Sharrock,
Joy Division,
The Dead C,
Amon Düül,
Angry Samoans,
Animal Collective,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Blancmange,
The Slits,
Parry Music,
The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers, The Searchers.
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.