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 Thailand and from Delhi.
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 1967 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the snare 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 Technova to the funk 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 Subhumans. All the underground hits.
All Eric Copeland tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pussy Galore record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 an arpeggiator and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Public Enemy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cymande,
Todd Rundgren,
New York Dolls,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Cecil Taylor,
Carl Craig,
D'Angelo,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
R.M.O.,
Grey Daturas,
K-Klass,
The Standells,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
The Monks,
Morten Harket,
Soft Cell,
Ronnie Foster,
June Days,
Audionom,
Rites of Spring,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Television,
Jeff Lynne,
Ludus,
Idris Muhammad,
The Shadows of Knight,
MC5,
Popol Vuh,
The Gap Band,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Roger Hodgson,
The Birthday Party,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Harry Pussy,
L. Decosne,
the Sonics,
JFA,
Little Man,
Pussy Galore,
Robert Wyatt,
Andrew Hill,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Eden Ahbez,
Ronan,
Vainqueur,
the Fania All-Stars,
Public Enemy,
The Techniques,
The Count Five,
Shoche,
Goldenarms,
Minny Pops,
Swans,
Lakeside,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Youth Brigade,
Johnny Osbourne,
Scrapy,
Crispy Ambulance,
Masters at Work,
Mandrill,
Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle, Throbbing Gristle.
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.