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 Bosnia Herzegovina and from Copenhagen.
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 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Seoul and Manila.
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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
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 Manfred Mann's Earth Band to the rap kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Unwound. All the underground hits.
All Alton Ellis tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Adolescents record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Dorothy Ashby record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eric B and Rakim,
Rekid,
Juan Atkins,
Delon & Dalcan,
Hot Snakes,
T. Rex,
Neu!,
Silicon Teens,
Bauhaus,
The Remains,
Scan 7,
The Searchers,
Joyce Sims,
Stereo Dub,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Schoolly D,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Andrew Hill,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Lalann,
Chrome,
The Vogues,
Pulsallama,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Golliwogs,
Boz Scaggs,
JFA,
Bobby Byrd,
Lebanon Hanover,
Tres Demented,
Suburban Knight,
Yusef Lateef,
The Sonics,
Wire,
Jimmy McGriff,
Nico,
Laurel Aitken,
Animal Collective,
Organ,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
The Grass Roots,
Gastr Del Sol,
Pylon,
Letta Mbulu,
Fela Kuti,
Sun Ra,
This Heat,
The Offenders,
Barclay James Harvest,
Kurtis Blow,
Eddi Front,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Velvet Underground,
Ken Boothe,
Johnny Clarke,
Aural Exciters,
John Lydon,
K-Klass,
Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding, Das Ding.
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.