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 Pakistan and from Houston.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Second Layer show in South London.
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 1969 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Trumans Water to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 The Barracudas. All the underground hits.
All James Chance & The Contortions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Second Layer record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Electric Prunes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Au Pairs,
The Smiths,
Ludus,
Anthony Braxton,
Roy Ayers,
Y Pants,
Average White Band,
Amazonics,
OOIOO,
JFA,
The Motions,
Isaac Hayes,
The Trojans,
Big Daddy Kane,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Los Fastidios,
China Crisis,
B.T. Express,
F. McDonald,
Wire,
Blake Baxter,
The Last Poets,
Minutemen,
Joy Division,
Oblivians,
Eddi Front,
Boredoms,
Severed Heads,
Soul Sonic Force,
Throbbing Gristle,
Agitation Free,
Brick,
Zero Boys,
John Holt,
Flamin' Groovies,
Freddie Wadling,
Cluster,
Juan Atkins,
Kurtis Blow,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
48th St. Collective,
Andrew Hill,
R.M.O.,
cv313,
Althea and Donna,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Basic Channel,
The Stooges,
Scratch Acid,
Letta Mbulu,
The Doors,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sound Behaviour,
Kayak,
Crispian St. Peters,
Susan Cadogan,
The Electric Prunes,
Altered Images,
Public Image Ltd.,
Tomorrow,
Josef K, Josef K, Josef K, Josef K.
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.