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 Libya and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Madrid and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester 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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the rhodes sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Mantronix to the techno kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Malaria!. All the underground hits.
All Mary Jane Girls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tres Demented record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 an oboe and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Last Poets record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Rekid,
The Music Machine,
Barbara Tucker,
Ornette Coleman,
Silicon Teens,
Marc Almond,
The Standells,
Lungfish,
Al Stewart,
Joyce Sims,
Donny Hathaway,
The Litter,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
The Alarm Clocks,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Althea and Donna,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Vogues,
B.T. Express,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Angels of Light,
Delta 5,
The Star Department,
Goldenarms,
Mars,
Public Image Ltd.,
Traffic Nightmare,
Chris & Cosey,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Brothers Johnson,
Desert Stars,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
New Age Steppers,
Eric Copeland,
Crooked Eye,
Sonic Youth,
Terry Callier,
Soulsonic Force,
Country Teasers,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Kerrie Biddell,
Steve Hackett,
Johnny Osbourne,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Moby Grape,
The Real Kids,
Reuben Wilson,
Chrome,
Avey Tare,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ultra Naté,
Eric Dolphy,
Neu!,
Gabor Szabo,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lyres,
Flamin' Groovies,
Grauzone,
The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice, The Black Dice.
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.