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 Bangladesh and from Cairo.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Shanghai.
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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Aswad to the grime 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 Amon Düül II. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Robert Wyatt 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Livin' Joy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Flesh Eaters,
The Seeds,
The Electric Prunes,
The Stooges,
The Grass Roots,
Peter & Gordon,
Gil Scott Heron,
Idris Muhammad,
The Tremeloes,
Lou Christie,
Susan Cadogan,
the Fania All-Stars,
Buzzcocks,
The Pop Group,
Qualms,
Panda Bear,
China Crisis,
Warren Ellis,
Bootsy Collins,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Byron Stingily,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Faust,
Pet Shop Boys,
Ultravox,
Monolake,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Sunsets and Hearts,
The Fugs,
Lalo Schifrin,
Eli Mardock,
Eve St. Jones,
Outsiders,
the Germs,
Grauzone,
Con Funk Shun,
Das Ding,
Pole,
The Misunderstood,
Dorothy Ashby,
Pantytec,
Alison Limerick,
Archie Shepp,
Mo-Dettes,
Pylon,
Heaven 17,
Jandek,
Malaria!,
Gastr Del Sol,
Animal Collective,
Nico,
Fifty Foot Hose,
John Holt,
Jimmy McGriff,
Scientists,
Traffic Nightmare,
Hoover,
Sarah Menescal,
Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols.
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.