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 Ireland 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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the sitar 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 Bush Tetras 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 Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog. All the underground hits.
All Crooked Eye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harmonia record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Birthday Party 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?
PIL,
The Searchers,
Arab on Radar,
Funky Four + One,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Neu!,
Brick,
Archie Shepp,
The Last Poets,
Charles Mingus,
DJ Sneak,
Mars,
Stetsasonic,
James Chance & The Contortions,
A Certain Ratio,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Barclay James Harvest,
The Residents,
Pet Shop Boys,
Kenny Larkin,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
The Birthday Party,
The Young Rascals,
Dave Gahan,
Gichy Dan,
Von Mondo,
Gang of Four,
Gil Scott Heron,
Pole,
Severed Heads,
Clear Light,
Jeff Lynne,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ossler,
Toni Rubio,
Yusef Lateef,
Moebius,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Toasters,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Bobby Byrd,
Quantec,
48th St. Collective,
Bizarre Inc.,
The Cramps,
Siglo XX,
Eli Mardock,
Throbbing Gristle,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Fatback Band,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Roxette,
Heaven 17,
Y Pants,
Can,
The United States of America,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Babytalk,
Au Pairs,
Mary Jane Girls,
Warsaw,
The Pop Group,
John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon, John Lydon.
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.