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 Korea South and from Salvador.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 1977 at the first Human League practice in a loft in Sheffield.
I was working on the arpeggiator 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 Hashim to the dance 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 Clear Light. All the underground hits.
All Radiopuhelimet tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pagans 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a rhodes 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 arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Swell Maps,
Wally Richardson,
K-Klass,
Marvin Gaye,
Freddie Wadling,
Glenn Branca,
The Modern Lovers,
David Axelrod,
Radio Birdman,
Magazine,
Bad Manners,
The Mummies,
Liliput,
Deakin,
Minny Pops,
The Toasters,
Gabor Szabo,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Qualms,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
CMW,
Boz Scaggs,
Bootsy Collins,
PIL,
Al Stewart,
Newcleus,
John Foxx,
James White and The Blacks,
These Immortal Souls,
The Vogues,
Pole,
Brothers Johnson,
Ken Boothe,
Flash Fearless,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Steve Hackett,
DJ Sneak,
Tim Buckley,
Marmalade,
Con Funk Shun,
Tropical Tobacco,
Idris Muhammad,
Porter Ricks,
Swans,
The Monochrome Set,
Fad Gadget,
Bob Dylan,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Warsaw,
the Germs,
Sugar Minott,
Dawn Penn,
The Index,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Count Five,
Colin Newman,
Reuben Wilson,
The J.B.'s,
Sound Behaviour,
The Buckinghams,
Flipper,
Sandy B,
Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan, Susan Cadogan.
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.