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 Kazakhstan 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 1962 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1978 at the first Visage practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 The Raincoats to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Agent Orange. All the underground hits.
All The Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jandek record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
World's Most,
Cheater Slicks,
Tom Boy,
Roger Hodgson,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Fugs,
The American Breed,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Yazoo,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bobby Sherman,
Tears for Fears,
Donald Byrd,
Kaleidoscope,
Minny Pops,
Guru Guru,
Von Mondo,
Deakin,
Cameo,
Minor Threat,
Lyres,
Howard Jones,
Robert Hood,
Swell Maps,
Moebius,
Bootsy Collins,
Whodini,
Eve St. Jones,
Desert Stars,
T. Rex,
Unwound,
Glambeats Corp.,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
In Retrospect,
Ultravox,
DJ Sneak,
Joensuu 1685,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Happenings,
Don Cherry,
DJ Style,
FM Einheit,
Metal Thangz,
Brothers Johnson,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Mummies,
X-Ray Spex,
The Tremeloes,
Henry Cow,
Livin' Joy,
Absolute Body Control,
Groovy Waters,
Letta Mbulu,
Arcadia,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Harpers Bizarre,
EPMD,
DNA,
Camberwell Now,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends, Loose Ends.
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.