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 Malawi and from Portland.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Can to the techno 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 James White and The Blacks. All the underground hits.
All Juan Atkins tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rufus Thomas 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sam Rivers,
Barrington Levy,
Crime,
Alphaville,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Colin Newman,
Barclay James Harvest,
Drexciya,
Talk Talk,
Buzzcocks,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Soul II Soul,
Connie Case,
Terrestrial Tones,
Anakelly,
Vainqueur,
Au Pairs,
The Doobie Brothers,
The American Breed,
Scientists,
The Index,
Sarah Menescal,
Charles Mingus,
The Monks,
The Sonics,
Subhumans,
This Heat,
A Certain Ratio,
New Age Steppers,
E-Dancer,
Idris Muhammad,
Steve Hackett,
Derrick May,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Count Five,
Graham Central Station,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Radiohead,
Desert Stars,
Lower 48,
Kool Moe Dee,
Traffic Nightmare,
Tommy Roe,
The Fugs,
Section 25,
Brass Construction,
Easy Going,
Mr. Review,
The Golliwogs,
The Misunderstood,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Sound Behaviour,
Dark Day,
The Music Machine,
Aaron Thompson,
Pharoah Sanders,
The Associates,
Audionom,
The Last Poets,
The Cure,
Joey Negro,
Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow, Henry Cow.
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.