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 Togo and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and New York.
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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the guitar 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 Heaven 17 to the rock 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 Beasts of Bourbon. All the underground hits.
All Joe Finger tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Brand Nubian record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fad Gadget record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
John Cale,
Gregory Isaacs,
The Kinks,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Walker Brothers,
The Sonics,
Magma,
D'Angelo,
Cecil Taylor,
Aaron Thompson,
Davy DMX,
The Victims,
Parry Music,
Soul Sonic Force,
Stiv Bators,
Dave Gahan,
Dennis Brown,
These Immortal Souls,
Sound Behaviour,
Surgeon,
Average White Band,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Frankie Knuckles,
B.T. Express,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Dead Boys,
cv313,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Max Romeo,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Depeche Mode,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Yusef Lateef,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Joe Finger,
Scientists,
Eli Mardock,
Warren Ellis,
Nick Fraelich,
Moss Icon,
The Red Krayola,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Intrusion,
Kurtis Blow,
Grandmaster Flash,
Ultravox,
The Divine Comedy,
Bauhaus,
Eric Dolphy,
The Detroit Cobras,
Agitation Free,
The Monochrome Set,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Reuben Wilson,
Talk Talk,
Avey Tare,
Suburban Knight,
The Gun Club,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros, The Zeros.
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.