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 Slovakia and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Mumbai 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Ultimate Spinach to the crunk kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Thee Headcoats. All the underground hits.
All The Moody Blues tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jesper Dahlback record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 a spring reverb and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scott Walker record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Alarm Clocks,
Ponytail,
Camberwell Now,
R.M.O.,
Godley & Creme,
Buzzcocks,
Sugar Minott,
Kevin Saunderson,
48th St. Collective,
Yusef Lateef,
Theoretical Girls,
X-Ray Spex,
10cc,
Amon Düül II,
Public Image Ltd.,
Main Source,
Minutemen,
Amazonics,
Dead Boys,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Sound Behaviour,
Stereo Dub,
Basic Channel,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Cecil Taylor,
Y Pants,
Fear,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Human League,
Johnny Clarke,
Spandau Ballet,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Ultimate Spinach,
Agitation Free,
Cal Tjader,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Ohio Players,
Ituana,
Suburban Knight,
X-101,
The Gories,
One Last Wish,
Sparks,
Jimmy McGriff,
Niagra,
Gil Scott Heron,
Delon & Dalcan,
Subhumans,
The Names,
Eric Copeland,
Animal Collective,
Wire,
Lungfish,
Dennis Brown,
Archie Shepp,
Negative Approach,
Curtis Mayfield,
Jeff Lynne,
Janne Schatter,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth, Reagan Youth.
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.