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 San Marino and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Lewis show in Vancouver.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Mumbai.
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 1976 at the first Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the guitar 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 Art Ensemble Of Chicago to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Yusef Lateef. All the underground hits.
All Neu! 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joey Negro record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Fat Boys,
Don Cherry,
Nico,
David Axelrod,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
a-ha,
The Offenders,
Junior Murvin,
The Music Machine,
Television,
OOIOO,
A Certain Ratio,
Schoolly D,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Eurythmics,
Connie Case,
Swans,
Bronski Beat,
Black Pus,
Marmalade,
Shuggie Otis,
Reuben Wilson,
Second Layer,
Avey Tare,
Delon & Dalcan,
Minny Pops,
X-102,
Fugazi,
Lou Christie,
Drive Like Jehu,
Black Moon,
Tommy Roe,
Steve Hackett,
Pussy Galore,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Whodini,
Crooked Eye,
The Names,
Anakelly,
Dawn Penn,
Smog,
Joe Finger,
The Gap Band,
Tomorrow,
Boz Scaggs,
Carl Craig,
The Grass Roots,
Graham Central Station,
Unwound,
Isaac Hayes,
Q65,
Trumans Water,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Knickerbockers,
Patti Smith,
Eric Copeland,
Charles Mingus,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Fatback Band,
The Mummies,
The Blues Magoos,
The Motions,
Mark Hollis,
Pharoah Sanders,
Deakin, Deakin, Deakin, Deakin.
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.