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 Tonga and from Portland.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1962 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Edmonton.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Sonny Sharrock to the funk 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 Black Flag. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soft Machine 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 '70s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jacques Brel record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Brand Nubian,
The Zeros,
Panda Bear,
The Mummies,
Lindisfarne,
Prince Buster,
Mr. Review,
Khruangbin,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Main Source,
Pierre Henry,
Lalo Schifrin,
The Birthday Party,
Young Marble Giants,
Freddie Wadling,
Aswad,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Kaleidoscope,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Gun Club,
Inner City,
Motorama,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Alarm Clocks,
Ice-T,
Juan Atkins,
Max Romeo,
Scratch Acid,
John Coltrane,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Sun Ra,
The Dead C,
Brothers Johnson,
Alphaville,
The Black Dice,
The Monochrome Set,
Swell Maps,
DJ Style,
Mary Jane Girls,
Buzzcocks,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
K-Klass,
The Grass Roots,
Neil Young,
Sam Rivers,
Television,
Saccharine Trust,
Royal Trux,
Q and Not U,
The Victims,
The Durutti Column,
Shoche,
Ossler,
Jeff Lynne,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Derrick May,
The Fire Engines,
Babytalk,
The Mojo Men,
Girls At Our Best!,
the Human League,
Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat, Bronski Beat.
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.