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 Brazil and from Madrid.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm 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 Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the marimba 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 Basic Channel to the techno kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Deepchord. All the underground hits.
All Josef K tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Zapp record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro 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 güiro and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Pop Group,
Fear,
Deadbeat,
Big Daddy Kane,
Bronski Beat,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
The Human League,
Pharoah Sanders,
Index,
the Slits,
Pere Ubu,
Los Fastidios,
Kurtis Blow,
Delon & Dalcan,
Public Enemy,
Blake Baxter,
Marvin Gaye,
Severed Heads,
Dorothy Ashby,
The Vogues,
Leonard Cohen,
Girls At Our Best!,
Anthony Braxton,
Section 25,
The Kinks,
Au Pairs,
Mission of Burma,
Sound Behaviour,
The Stooges,
The Searchers,
Connie Case,
X-102,
The Invisible,
Magma,
Godley & Creme,
Scientists,
Supertramp,
Popol Vuh,
Blancmange,
Maurizio,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Avey Tare,
The Modern Lovers,
8 Eyed Spy,
David Bowie,
The Offenders,
The Toasters,
Ludus,
Isaac Hayes,
Man Eating Sloth,
Public Image Ltd.,
Mary Jane Girls,
Mark Hollis,
Dawn Penn,
The American Breed,
Joey Negro,
The Fugs,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza, Eyeless In Gaza.
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.