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 Liechtenstein and from Taipei.
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 1960 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
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 PIL to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Traffic Nightmare. All the underground hits.
All The Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Fire Engines 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Knickerbockers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Scratch Acid,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Supertramp,
Absolute Body Control,
Thee Headcoats,
Black Bananas,
Main Source,
Jawbox,
Dawn Penn,
Carl Craig,
David Axelrod,
Roy Ayers,
Das Ding,
Robert Wyatt,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
T.S.O.L.,
U.S. Maple,
Lucky Dragons,
Cybotron,
Average White Band,
Rekid,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Y Pants,
Trumans Water,
Flamin' Groovies,
The Detroit Cobras,
Wire,
The Raincoats,
Tres Demented,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Joensuu 1685,
The Searchers,
Joey Negro,
The Smiths,
Marcia Griffiths,
Donald Byrd,
Glenn Branca,
Dual Sessions,
Wally Richardson,
Amon Düül,
The Motions,
Swell Maps,
D'Angelo,
Country Teasers,
The Vogues,
Qualms,
Jacques Brel,
Brick,
Porter Ricks,
The Invisible,
Silicon Teens,
Eden Ahbez,
Excepter,
Dennis Brown,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Idris Muhammad,
Spandau Ballet,
Terrestrial Tones,
Henry Cow,
The Star Department,
Unwound,
The Durutti Column,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.