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 Lebanon and from Cairo.
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 1969 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Lille.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
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 Country Joe & The Fish to the dance 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 The Move. All the underground hits.
All the Swans tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Suburban Knight record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pet Shop Boys record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
DNA,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Johnny Osbourne,
Glenn Branca,
New York Dolls,
Subhumans,
Freddie Wadling,
Yazoo,
Deadbeat,
the Soft Cell,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Massinfluence,
Essential Logic,
The Slits,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Grauzone,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Roxette,
Graham Central Station,
Thompson Twins,
Avey Tare,
Reagan Youth,
Boredoms,
The Doobie Brothers,
FM Einheit,
Japan,
Dark Day,
Ludus,
Sister Nancy,
Ponytail,
Peter & Gordon,
Black Sheep,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Pantytec,
Crooked Eye,
The Toasters,
Basic Channel,
World's Most,
Country Teasers,
Hashim,
Jeru the Damaja,
Ultra Naté,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Absolute Body Control,
JFA,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Trumans Water,
The Busters,
Rites of Spring,
The Velvet Underground,
Godley & Creme,
Rapeman,
Scratch Acid,
Groovy Waters,
Eddi Front,
Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare, Traffic Nightmare.
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.