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 Sudan and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 New York and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Delta 5 to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Sarah Menescal. All the underground hits.
All Scott Walker + Sunn O))) tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ralphi Rosario record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kurtis Blow record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Freddie Wadling,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Jandek,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Alphaville,
Stereo Dub,
James White and The Blacks,
The Skatalites,
Animal Collective,
Audionom,
Donny Hathaway,
Roxy Music,
Sandy B,
Wasted Youth,
Popol Vuh,
Interpol,
Soul II Soul,
Maurizio,
The Knickerbockers,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
The Cowsills,
A Certain Ratio,
Crooked Eye,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Mars,
Connie Case,
John Lydon,
Model 500,
Average White Band,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Liliput,
Scrapy,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Sun City Girls,
Organ,
Matthew Halsall,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Piero Umiliani,
U.S. Maple,
Idris Muhammad,
Deepchord,
Soft Machine,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Doors,
Bang On A Can,
Ultravox,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Happenings,
Pantytec,
The Dave Clark Five,
Camberwell Now,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Wolf Eyes,
Rufus Thomas,
Fugazi,
Livin' Joy,
Gichy Dan,
the Sonics,
Duran Duran,
Soul Sonic Force,
Henry Cow,
Reagan Youth,
Susan Cadogan,
Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A, Accadde A.
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.