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 Cambodia and from Johannesburg.
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 1969 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Charles Mingus to the funk 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 Althea and Donna. All the underground hits.
All Ossler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Warren Ellis 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Move record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar 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,
Aswad,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Patti Smith,
Amon Düül,
the Human League,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kayak,
Moebius,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Dual Sessions,
The Doors,
Skriet,
Judy Mowatt,
Los Fastidios,
Boz Scaggs,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Bang On A Can,
The Slackers,
Marcia Griffiths,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Modern Lovers,
Fela Kuti,
Kerrie Biddell,
The Misunderstood,
Pagans,
Interpol,
ABC,
Porter Ricks,
The Cosmic Jokers,
The Barracudas,
Wings,
Scan 7,
Bob Dylan,
Gang of Four,
the Slits,
Newcleus,
New Order,
Dark Day,
Section 25,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Rufus Thomas,
Severed Heads,
Soul II Soul,
Fugazi,
Intrusion,
Soft Cell,
The Kinks,
The Gories,
Au Pairs,
The Golliwogs,
The Knickerbockers,
Agent Orange,
Ken Boothe,
Blancmange,
Black Flag,
The Star Department,
Public Enemy,
Ralphi Rosario,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Black Sheep,
The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine, The Music Machine.
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.