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 Switzerland and from Glasgow.
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 1968 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Bill Near to the jazz 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 Ultimate Spinach. All the underground hits.
All X-Ray Spex tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Dead C record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 theremin and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Victims record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Henry Cow,
Technova,
The Velvet Underground,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Ice-T,
Erasure,
Massinfluence,
KRS-One,
Nico,
Minor Threat,
Nik Kershaw,
The Music Machine,
Soft Machine,
Electric Prunes,
James White and The Blacks,
F. McDonald,
The Moleskins,
Marshall Jefferson,
Girls At Our Best!,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Busters,
The Index,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Public Image Ltd.,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Grandmaster Flash,
LL Cool J,
Matthew Bourne,
Radio Birdman,
Warren Ellis,
Little Man,
Jeff Lynne,
Sun City Girls,
In Retrospect,
The Motions,
Lungfish,
DNA,
June of 44,
The Skatalites,
The Walker Brothers,
The Young Rascals,
Black Flag,
Television Personalities,
Barclay James Harvest,
Albert Ayler,
Khruangbin,
Lower 48,
Donny Hathaway,
Altered Images,
Vainqueur,
Los Fastidios,
Patti Smith,
Yusef Lateef,
John Lydon,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Fear,
Reuben Wilson,
The Divine Comedy,
The Saints,
The Selecter,
Bang On A Can,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.