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 Hungary 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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Bologna.
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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the guitar 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 Terror Squad Feat. Camron to the disco 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 Lebanon Hanover. All the underground hits.
All Scrapy tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sex Pistols 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a snare and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Supertramp,
Thompson Twins,
Tom Boy,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Blackbyrds,
Stiv Bators,
Q65,
Skaos,
Freddie Wadling,
John Holt,
These Immortal Souls,
T.S.O.L.,
This Heat,
Anthony Braxton,
Barclay James Harvest,
The American Breed,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Victims,
Bluetip,
Make Up,
Colin Newman,
The Fugs,
Jeru the Damaja,
The Move,
The Velvet Underground,
Kool Moe Dee,
Alton Ellis,
the Association,
The Skatalites,
Glambeats Corp.,
Ludus,
ABC,
Cameo,
Nico,
Hardrive,
Jeff Lynne,
Cybotron,
Ultimate Spinach,
Crash Course in Science,
Radiohead,
Jandek,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Shadows of Knight,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Steve Hackett,
Cymande,
Rufus Thomas,
Carl Craig,
The Durutti Column,
The Red Krayola,
Von Mondo,
Faust,
the Sonics,
The Fire Engines,
Cheater Slicks,
Sound Behaviour,
The Happenings,
The Doors,
Erykah Badu,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians, Oblivians.
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.