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 Ukraine and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 Glasgow and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 1984 at the first Arcadia practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the chamberlin 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 Shuggie Otis to the dance 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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All Justin Hinds & The Dominoes tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Darondo record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Section 25 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Eddi Front,
Sound Behaviour,
Sister Nancy,
Sun Ra,
kango's stein massive,
Duran Duran,
Deadbeat,
Grandmaster Flash,
Second Layer,
Thee Headcoats,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Throbbing Gristle,
Make Up,
Jacob Miller,
Eurythmics,
Matthew Bourne,
Saccharine Trust,
Scratch Acid,
K-Klass,
U.S. Maple,
Roxette,
Little Man,
Byron Stingily,
Black Moon,
Minny Pops,
Patti Smith,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Rakim,
Monolake,
Robert Hood,
Heaven 17,
Curtis Mayfield,
Index,
The Slackers,
Severed Heads,
Johnny Osbourne,
Neil Young,
Au Pairs,
Sam Rivers,
Jeru the Damaja,
Aswad,
Kool Moe Dee,
The Residents,
Althea and Donna,
Mo-Dettes,
the Slits,
Slick Rick,
La Düsseldorf,
Newcleus,
Black Bananas,
The Smoke,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Offenders,
Pole,
The Count Five,
The Techniques,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Japan,
Camberwell Now,
Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe, Be Bop Deluxe.
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.