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 Belarus and from Manchester.
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 1967 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Suburban Knight to the dance 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 Fela Kuti. All the underground hits.
All The Fall tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echo & the Bunnymen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 spring reverb and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scan 7 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ponytail,
Warsaw,
Mission of Burma,
Skarface,
Zero Boys,
Funky Four + One,
Mo-Dettes,
Wally Richardson,
KRS-One,
The Mummies,
The Wake,
Half Japanese,
Smog,
Ornette Coleman,
The Smiths,
Can,
Grandmaster Flash,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
the Fania All-Stars,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Alton Ellis,
Janne Schatter,
Delon & Dalcan,
Todd Terry,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Matthew Bourne,
Slick Rick,
FM Einheit,
Barbara Tucker,
Babytalk,
Khruangbin,
Crash Course in Science,
Hardrive,
Donald Byrd,
Neil Young,
Jacques Brel,
Monks,
the Human League,
Joy Division,
Newcleus,
Gichy Dan,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Jeff Mills,
the Slits,
The Cure,
Hashim,
Aloha Tigers,
The Stooges,
Graham Central Station,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Nas,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Popol Vuh,
Kas Product,
The Monochrome Set,
Stereo Dub,
Tropical Tobacco,
Cameo,
Nik Kershaw,
Young Marble Giants,
Reagan Youth,
Ossler,
Dennis Brown,
Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott.
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.