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 Bhutan and from Beijing.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Copenhagen.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the 808 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 The Grass Roots to the punk 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 Patti Smith. All the underground hits.
All Hot Snakes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gregory Isaacs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Schoolly D,
The Detroit Cobras,
Khruangbin,
Bad Manners,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
La Düsseldorf,
Ultravox,
Basic Channel,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Techniques,
U.S. Maple,
Henry Cow,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Sexual Harrassment,
Tomorrow,
Steve Hackett,
T. Rex,
Susan Cadogan,
Fear,
Flash Fearless,
Eurythmics,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Eric Dolphy,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Severed Heads,
Electric Prunes,
John Foxx,
Bobby Byrd,
Lou Christie,
Whodini,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Graham Central Station,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sam Rivers,
Colin Newman,
The Black Dice,
Outsiders,
Television Personalities,
Joyce Sims,
The Tremeloes,
Monolake,
The Seeds,
The Dirtbombs,
Skaos,
The United States of America,
B.T. Express,
The Birthday Party,
Simply Red,
Model 500,
The Star Department,
Subhumans,
The Monochrome Set,
Vladislav Delay,
David McCallum,
Interpol,
Oblivians,
Absolute Body Control,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Thompson Twins,
Barrington Levy,
the Sonics,
The Cowsills,
MC5, MC5, MC5, MC5.
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.