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 Tanzania 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 1968 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the theremin 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 Bang On A Can to the rap 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 Model 500. All the underground hits.
All Audionom tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pere Ubu 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rotary Connection record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Audionom,
The Offenders,
The Toasters,
Fela Kuti,
Con Funk Shun,
The Blackbyrds,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Magazine,
Von Mondo,
The Fire Engines,
The Kinks,
Marmalade,
Harpers Bizarre,
Supertramp,
Lalo Schifrin,
the Association,
Girls At Our Best!,
Metal Thangz,
Graham Central Station,
Young Marble Giants,
The Real Kids,
F. McDonald,
The Monochrome Set,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Pere Ubu,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Soul II Soul,
Dead Boys,
Amazonics,
Bob Dylan,
Bobby Sherman,
The Sound,
ABC,
The Wake,
Electric Prunes,
This Heat,
Matthew Halsall,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Remains,
Boogie Down Productions,
James White and The Blacks,
Jacques Brel,
Joe Finger,
Rakim,
Reuben Wilson,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
June Days,
Popol Vuh,
Johnny Osbourne,
Fugazi,
Barry Ungar,
Ralphi Rosario,
Youth Brigade,
Iggy Pop,
Underground Resistance,
Gregory Isaacs,
Duran Duran,
Arcadia,
Mars,
Infiniti,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.