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 Solomon Islands and from Tokyo.
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 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Delhi 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 at the first Suicide practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Skatalites to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Niagra. All the underground hits.
All Prince Buster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zero Boys record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
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 Reuben Wilson record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiohead,
The Selecter,
Aloha Tigers,
Rites of Spring,
Monks,
Smog,
Jerry's Kids,
The Litter,
Nils Olav,
World's Most,
Avey Tare,
Sugar Minott,
Byron Stingily,
Country Teasers,
Iggy Pop,
John Coltrane,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Loose Ends,
The Blues Magoos,
Rosa Yemen,
The Electric Prunes,
Television Personalities,
Stetsasonic,
The Human League,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Slackers,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Jacques Brel,
a-ha,
Scrapy,
Barbara Tucker,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Angry Samoans,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Roy Ayers,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
The Martian,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Crime,
Hasil Adkins,
Suburban Knight,
The Walker Brothers,
Michelle Simonal,
Accadde A,
Wolf Eyes,
Robert Hood,
Chrome,
Parry Music,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Cramps,
Crash Course in Science,
Trumans Water,
Hashim,
Sandy B,
The Detroit Cobras,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
the Slits,
L. Decosne,
Minnie Riperton,
Tears for Fears,
Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange, Blancmange.
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.