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 Lagos.
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 1969 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Pierre Henry to the rock kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 PIL. All the underground hits.
All Clear Light tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lucky Dragons 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Panda Bear record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Spoonie Gee,
Nirvana,
the Human League,
Beasts of Bourbon,
the Normal,
Pole,
Colin Newman,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Brand Nubian,
Grandmaster Flash,
The Angels of Light,
Funkadelic,
Soft Machine,
Davy DMX,
Vladislav Delay,
Cal Tjader,
Wire,
Qualms,
Big Daddy Kane,
The Mummies,
Shoche,
Gabor Szabo,
Anthony Braxton,
Bluetip,
Amon Düül II,
Crispy Ambulance,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Remains,
Mantronix,
Maurizio,
Skarface,
The Durutti Column,
The Five Americans,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Jawbox,
Aaron Thompson,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
La Düsseldorf,
Sun Ra,
Second Layer,
Matthew Halsall,
Black Pus,
Hardrive,
Warren Ellis,
Nation of Ulysses,
Be Bop Deluxe,
The United States of America,
Minnie Riperton,
Deepchord,
Moby Grape,
Rakim,
Rotary Connection,
Toni Rubio,
Jerry's Kids,
Lee Hazlewood,
Morten Harket,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Scrapy,
New York Dolls,
ABC,
Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef, Yusef Lateef.
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.