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 Macedonia and from Houston.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Robert Hood to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Gian Franco Pienzio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Fatback Band record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Second Layer record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Clear Light,
Pulsallama,
Intrusion,
Aural Exciters,
JFA,
The Velvet Underground,
The Walker Brothers,
The Last Poets,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jacques Brel,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Dave Gahan,
Urselle,
It's A Beautiful Day,
John Coltrane,
Angry Samoans,
Parry Music,
Hot Snakes,
Unwound,
Harmonia,
Sandy B,
Main Source,
Barbara Tucker,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Animal Collective,
Donald Byrd,
Brand Nubian,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Visage,
The Monochrome Set,
Shuggie Otis,
Thee Headcoats,
The Victims,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Motions,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Jawbox,
The Gap Band,
James White and The Blacks,
Robert Wyatt,
Deakin,
Reagan Youth,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Lower 48,
The Mojo Men,
Scratch Acid,
Soulsonic Force,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Faraquet,
Grauzone,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Eddi Front,
Pagans,
Harry Pussy,
Talk Talk,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Angels of Light,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Sällskapet,
Hoover, Hoover, Hoover, Hoover.
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.