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 Trinidad & Tobago and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in 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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Philadelphia.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
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 Derrick Morgan 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 ABBA. All the underground hits.
All Brothers Johnson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sly & The Family Stone record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a mellotron 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 sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oneida,
Ronan,
Shoche,
Unrelated Segments,
Robert Hood,
Barbara Tucker,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Slick Rick,
Swans,
Inner City,
Neu!,
Main Source,
New York Dolls,
Joensuu 1685,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Kayak,
Lindisfarne,
Mission of Burma,
Marcia Griffiths,
Delta 5,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Moleskins,
Gang of Four,
Au Pairs,
Oblivians,
Kerri Chandler,
Anakelly,
Kerrie Biddell,
Colin Newman,
David Bowie,
Bill Near,
Bluetip,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Young Rascals,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Gastr Del Sol,
Marine Girls,
David Axelrod,
Al Stewart,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Detroit Cobras,
The Durutti Column,
Minutemen,
Black Bananas,
Gil Scott Heron,
Anthony Braxton,
Gang Green,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Nirvana,
Dorothy Ashby,
Terry Callier,
The Invisible,
Nico,
Throbbing Gristle,
Organ,
Arcadia,
Pole,
June of 44,
PIL,
ABBA,
Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls.
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.