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 Mongolia and from Hong Kong.
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 1966 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1979 at the first Josef K practice in a loft in Edinburgh.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Standells to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Intrusion. All the underground hits.
All Donny Hathaway tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nation of Ulysses 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sandy B record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Red Krayola,
The Saints,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bill Near,
Pulsallama,
Minnie Riperton,
The Alarm Clocks,
Monolake,
Flipper,
Subhumans,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Agent Orange,
The Smoke,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Fatback Band,
Surgeon,
Gang Green,
The Walker Brothers,
The Barracudas,
DJ Sneak,
Idris Muhammad,
Ornette Coleman,
Swell Maps,
the Human League,
The J.B.'s,
Dorothy Ashby,
Livin' Joy,
Traffic Nightmare,
Deadbeat,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The Invisible,
Mandrill,
Pantytec,
John Holt,
John Foxx,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
48th St. Collective,
Hasil Adkins,
Gang Gang Dance,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Star Department,
Radio Birdman,
Niagra,
The Sound,
The Doobie Brothers,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lebanon Hanover,
Gabor Szabo,
Slave,
Colin Newman,
Pantaleimon,
The Leaves,
Warsaw,
Prince Buster,
Girls At Our Best!,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Marine Girls,
Bauhaus,
Drexciya,
Scan 7,
Josef K,
The Flesh Eaters,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
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.