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 Burundi and from New York.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Shanghai.
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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Eli Mardock to the electroclash 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 Boogie Down Productions. All the underground hits.
All Man Parrish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Motions record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a John Foxx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Smiths,
Nik Kershaw,
Slave,
the Normal,
Junior Murvin,
Susan Cadogan,
Cal Tjader,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Roxy Music,
Eric Dolphy,
Pole,
David Bowie,
Scion,
Average White Band,
Bang On A Can,
The Kinks,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
X-101,
Loose Ends,
This Heat,
Eddi Front,
Duran Duran,
Hardrive,
The Shadows of Knight,
Janne Schatter,
Symarip,
Idris Muhammad,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Donald Byrd,
Little Man,
Shoche,
Bluetip,
Glambeats Corp.,
T. Rex,
The Velvet Underground,
Ossler,
Country Joe & The Fish,
ABBA,
The Knickerbockers,
The New Christs,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Fuzztones,
Joe Smooth,
The Standells,
The Mummies,
Sonny Sharrock,
The Names,
New York Dolls,
Amon Düül,
John Holt,
The Skatalites,
Lebanon Hanover,
Groovy Waters,
Brand Nubian,
Man Parrish,
Grauzone,
Hashim,
X-Ray Spex,
Moby Grape,
H. Thieme,
Camouflage,
Sun City Girls, Sun City Girls, Sun City Girls, Sun City Girls.
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.