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 Papua New Guinea and from Tehran.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the sitar 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 Malaria! to the disco 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 Fatback Band. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bizarre Inc. record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soulsonic Force record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Litter,
John Holt,
The Raincoats,
Rekid,
The Black Dice,
Darondo,
Eve St. Jones,
Oblivians,
Dark Day,
Country Joe & The Fish,
B.T. Express,
Royal Trux,
Cluster,
Rosa Yemen,
Lalann,
Pussy Galore,
Stockholm Monsters,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Drexciya,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Kool Moe Dee,
KRS-One,
Patti Smith,
The Fire Engines,
The Selecter,
Malaria!,
Derrick May,
The Birthday Party,
Skarface,
Stetsasonic,
Thee Headcoats,
A Certain Ratio,
The Music Machine,
Donny Hathaway,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Andrew Hill,
Flash Fearless,
World's Most,
the Normal,
Amazonics,
The Tremeloes,
The Blackbyrds,
Average White Band,
Zero Boys,
Pagans,
The Detroit Cobras,
In Retrospect,
Bauhaus,
Soft Machine,
Fugazi,
Blancmange,
Ronnie Foster,
Minnie Riperton,
Reuben Wilson,
Camberwell Now,
Kas Product,
Youth Brigade,
Chrome,
Soft Cell,
Eli Mardock,
Ice-T,
Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears.
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.