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 Montenegro and from Calgary.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 The Music Machine 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 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. All the underground hits.
All Section 25 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Smog record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Symarip record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Saints,
Fad Gadget,
Bad Manners,
Robert Hood,
cv313,
Arcadia,
Man Eating Sloth,
Thompson Twins,
Rhythm & Sound,
A Certain Ratio,
Absolute Body Control,
Hot Snakes,
The Gun Club,
The Associates,
Brass Construction,
June of 44,
KRS-One,
The Young Rascals,
Rotary Connection,
Boogie Down Productions,
Jeff Lynne,
Fluxion,
Wings,
Cheater Slicks,
Whodini,
Electric Prunes,
Dave Gahan,
Sun Ra,
Saccharine Trust,
Donny Hathaway,
Stockholm Monsters,
James White and The Blacks,
Josef K,
Spandau Ballet,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Vainqueur,
Kayak,
the Fania All-Stars,
Darondo,
Letta Mbulu,
Sam Rivers,
Hardrive,
David McCallum,
Supertramp,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Scientists,
Eurythmics,
Amon Düül II,
Ken Boothe,
Throbbing Gristle,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Scan 7,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Danielle Patucci,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Eve St. Jones,
Bill Wells,
Pagans,
Rites of Spring,
U.S. Maple,
Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics, Amazonics.
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.