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 Vanuatu and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Mistral show in Amsterdam.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Philadelphia.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the snare sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay 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 Porter Ricks to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 JFA. All the underground hits.
All The Invisible tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Moby Grape record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a 808 and a mellotron 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 marimba and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Count Five,
Crooked Eye,
The Doobie Brothers,
These Immortal Souls,
Urselle,
Popol Vuh,
Index,
Animal Collective,
Delon & Dalcan,
Yaz,
Amazonics,
Nation of Ulysses,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
the Slits,
Panda Bear,
La Düsseldorf,
Tommy Roe,
Glenn Branca,
Jacques Brel,
June Days,
Robert Hood,
Neil Young,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The United States of America,
The Shadows of Knight,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
the Human League,
B.T. Express,
The Dead C,
Anthony Braxton,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Brand Nubian,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
the Swans,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Birthday Party,
Gerry Rafferty,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Guru Guru,
The Gories,
Bootsy Collins,
Mantronix,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Avey Tare,
The Martian,
The Slackers,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Mark Hollis,
Gang Gang Dance,
Stereo Dub,
Nico,
Lee Hazlewood,
Quando Quango,
Jimmy McGriff,
Chris Corsano,
The Motions,
Arab on Radar,
Eric Dolphy,
Interpol,
Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio, Maurizio.
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.