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 Papua New Guinea and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Busters to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Joensuu 1685. All the underground hits.
All Bobbi Humphrey tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Procol Harum 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Zeros record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Panda Bear,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Barbara Tucker,
The Trojans,
The Victims,
Aural Exciters,
The Fall,
Cameo,
X-Ray Spex,
Angry Samoans,
Half Japanese,
Con Funk Shun,
Bobby Byrd,
Crash Course in Science,
Desert Stars,
James White and The Blacks,
Camouflage,
Howard Jones,
Hasil Adkins,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Carl Craig,
X-102,
Kaleidoscope,
John Holt,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Fire Engines,
A Certain Ratio,
Thee Headcoats,
The Associates,
Make Up,
Harmonia,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Black Pus,
Shuggie Otis,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Johnny Clarke,
Minutemen,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Pierre Henry,
Roxette,
10cc,
Bauhaus,
Monolake,
Main Source,
Gastr Del Sol,
Cal Tjader,
Gong,
Ralphi Rosario,
Ten City,
Rotary Connection,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Warren Ellis,
Stiv Bators,
The Slits,
Andrew Hill,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Cowsills,
Absolute Body Control,
The United States of America,
Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going, Easy Going.
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.