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 Brazil and from Johannesburg.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Accra.
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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Black Flag to the crunk 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 Brothers Johnson. All the underground hits.
All Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every the Association record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The United States of America,
The Alarm Clocks,
Kenny Larkin,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Black Moon,
Neil Young,
Kayak,
Malaria!,
Funky Four + One,
Barrington Levy,
The Doobie Brothers,
The Gun Club,
The Sound,
Sound Behaviour,
Ronan,
The Fugs,
Flipper,
Pylon,
Pulsallama,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Procol Harum,
Donny Hathaway,
Television Personalities,
Lindisfarne,
Pierre Henry,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Drive Like Jehu,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Lyres,
The Buckinghams,
Todd Rundgren,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
The Grass Roots,
The Move,
MC5,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
The Selecter,
James White and The Blacks,
Niagra,
New York Dolls,
Sonic Youth,
Siglo XX,
Black Sheep,
the Bar-Kays,
The Kinks,
La Düsseldorf,
Grandmaster Flash,
Don Cherry,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Mark Hollis,
K-Klass,
The J.B.'s,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
X-101,
Minor Threat,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Alison Limerick,
a-ha,
The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department, The Star Department.
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.