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 Marshall Islands and from Lagos.
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 1963 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 synthesizer 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 FM Einheit to the techno kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Royal Trux. All the underground hits.
All Cheater Slicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yusef Lateef record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cramps,
Television,
Fat Boys,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Buckinghams,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Panda Bear,
Hardrive,
Intrusion,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Vogues,
Y Pants,
Qualms,
The Flesh Eaters,
Silicon Teens,
Dark Day,
David McCallum,
Groovy Waters,
Heaven 17,
Von Mondo,
Max Romeo,
Roxy Music,
PIL,
Sonny Sharrock,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Modern Lovers,
Q and Not U,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ultravox,
Reagan Youth,
Bill Near,
Scrapy,
Glenn Branca,
48th St. Collective,
JFA,
Dawn Penn,
Nirvana,
Moebius,
Connie Case,
Marvin Gaye,
The Happenings,
Morten Harket,
Aural Exciters,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Smiths,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Wire,
Mad Mike,
The Slackers,
Banda Bassotti,
Eve St. Jones,
The Trojans,
The Slits,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Black Pus,
The Busters,
T. Rex,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.