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 Eritrea 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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Salvador and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Portland 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 Nation of Ulysses to the jazz kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Depeche Mode. All the underground hits.
All UT tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ossler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cowsills,
Stetsasonic,
The Selecter,
Colin Newman,
Mary Jane Girls,
Kool Moe Dee,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Music Machine,
X-102,
The Offenders,
Interpol,
Graham Central Station,
Gang Gang Dance,
Desert Stars,
Pussy Galore,
Lakeside,
Monolake,
Yusef Lateef,
Peter & Gordon,
The Smoke,
The Velvet Underground,
Goldenarms,
Mantronix,
Marmalade,
Jeff Mills,
Soft Machine,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lungfish,
Monks,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
the Germs,
Angry Samoans,
The Electric Prunes,
Junior Murvin,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Residents,
Donny Hathaway,
Funky Four + One,
One Last Wish,
Avey Tare,
Terrestrial Tones,
Delon & Dalcan,
Blancmange,
Essential Logic,
Gabor Szabo,
New York Dolls,
Bill Near,
Tim Buckley,
Siglo XX,
Lightning Bolt,
Yazoo,
Adolescents,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Joyce Sims,
Fear,
Ituana,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Sixth Finger,
L. Decosne,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Sonic Youth,
Quando Quango,
Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants, Young Marble Giants.
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.