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 Moldova and from Johannesburg.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Curtis Mayfield to the funk 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 Radio Birdman. All the underground hits.
All Youth Brigade tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deadbeat record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Groovy Waters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
New Age Steppers,
Susan Cadogan,
Maleditus Sound,
Urselle,
Pulsallama,
Spandau Ballet,
Flipper,
Jesper Dahlback,
Man Eating Sloth,
Accadde A,
Bauhaus,
Ossler,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The Gun Club,
the Human League,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Tremeloes,
Archie Shepp,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
The Offenders,
Stockholm Monsters,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Kas Product,
Brass Construction,
DNA,
Joyce Sims,
Excepter,
Malaria!,
Morten Harket,
Youth Brigade,
One Last Wish,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Shuggie Otis,
Unrelated Segments,
Chrome,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
The Kinks,
Jimmy McGriff,
Barry Ungar,
World's Most,
The Divine Comedy,
Panda Bear,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Pylon,
The Wake,
Technova,
Danielle Patucci,
The Velvet Underground,
Barclay James Harvest,
Au Pairs,
Deakin,
The Alarm Clocks,
John Holt,
The Cramps,
Cabaret Voltaire,
X-Ray Spex,
Bobby Womack,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bill Near,
Mark Hollis,
The Mighty Diamonds,
The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs, The Fugs.
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.