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 Guyana and from Stockholm.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Sad Lovers and Giants to the grime 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 Mary Jane Girls. All the underground hits.
All Cheater Slicks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fortunes 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a snare and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a A Certain Ratio record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cluster,
Janne Schatter,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
The Knickerbockers,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Joyce Sims,
Fatback Band,
John Cale,
Unrelated Segments,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Desert Stars,
Aaron Thompson,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Idris Muhammad,
Little Man,
The Detroit Cobras,
Groovy Waters,
Jimmy McGriff,
Toni Rubio,
Schoolly D,
Can,
Basic Channel,
Outsiders,
The Flesh Eaters,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Cure,
Reuben Wilson,
Alton Ellis,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Eurythmics,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Silicon Teens,
Mary Jane Girls,
Michelle Simonal,
Trumans Water,
Pole,
The Skatalites,
The Monks,
Chris & Cosey,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Iggy Pop,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Nirvana,
Rufus Thomas,
Altered Images,
Albert Ayler,
The Durutti Column,
Nas,
Yaz,
Pussy Galore,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Cheater Slicks,
Godley & Creme,
Arcadia,
Eyeless In Gaza,
The Associates,
Essential Logic,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Juan Atkins,
8 Eyed Spy,
Jeff Mills,
Girls At Our Best!,
Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon, Peter & Gordon.
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.