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 Botswana and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 theremin 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 Mo-Dettes to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Monochrome Set. All the underground hits.
All Magazine tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pop Group record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk 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 a synthesizer and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Roy Ayers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Darondo,
Crime,
Wire,
Mission of Burma,
Erykah Badu,
Drexciya,
Excepter,
Harmonia,
X-101,
Laurel Aitken,
Moby Grape,
Derrick Morgan,
Spandau Ballet,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Bang On A Can,
Max Romeo,
Yusef Lateef,
Con Funk Shun,
John Cale,
Ultravox,
The Beau Brummels,
Eric B and Rakim,
Agent Orange,
Todd Terry,
Rakim,
Inner City,
Prince Buster,
Deepchord,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Bronski Beat,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Tears for Fears,
The Last Poets,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Nico,
The Smoke,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sun City Girls,
Sam Rivers,
Minnie Riperton,
Scott Walker,
The Tremeloes,
The Toasters,
Joyce Sims,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Brass Construction,
Sonny Sharrock,
Agitation Free,
Surgeon,
Girls At Our Best!,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Neu!,
Outsiders,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Blues Magoos,
Accadde A,
Radiohead,
Nick Fraelich,
MDC,
Basic Channel,
Slave,
Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks, Cheater Slicks.
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.