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 Bolivia and from Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1962 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and London.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the 808 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 Lyres to the dance 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 The Sisters of Mercy. All the underground hits.
All Tres Demented tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minnie Riperton record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an organ and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quando Quango record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Marmalade,
Adolescents,
Mandrill,
Crooked Eye,
Rod Modell,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
the Fania All-Stars,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Seeds,
Fugazi,
Quantec,
The Fugs,
The Beau Brummels,
Infiniti,
Joyce Sims,
Deadbeat,
Harpers Bizarre,
Juan Atkins,
Mark Hollis,
Neil Young,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Move,
Severed Heads,
Joe Smooth,
Kas Product,
Siglo XX,
Tom Boy,
Aloha Tigers,
Public Image Ltd.,
AZ,
Little Man,
Crash Course in Science,
The Gories,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Alton Ellis,
This Heat,
Scion,
Make Up,
Sonny Sharrock,
F. McDonald,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Matthew Halsall,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Newcleus,
Deakin,
Grandmaster Flash,
Agitation Free,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Simply Red,
Ludus,
Pagans,
kango's stein massive,
Excepter,
Sex Pistols,
Cecil Taylor,
Pet Shop Boys,
Intrusion,
Flipper,
UT,
The Fire Engines,
Monks,
Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near, Bill Near.
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.