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 Brunei and from Mexico City.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the rhodes 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 Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks 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 Dorothy Ashby. All the underground hits.
All DJ Sneak tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Blancmange record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Hot Snakes record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 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,
Average White Band,
Lightning Bolt,
Bill Wells,
Deakin,
Sun Ra,
Whodini,
Roxy Music,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Fire Engines,
ABBA,
The Saints,
The Doors,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
John Coltrane,
The Human League,
John Cale,
Erykah Badu,
Boz Scaggs,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Avey Tare,
Hot Snakes,
The Fugs,
Qualms,
The Red Krayola,
a-ha,
The Busters,
Ultimate Spinach,
Skaos,
Schoolly D,
DJ Style,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
The Pretty Things,
Mantronix,
Colin Newman,
MDC,
Aaron Thompson,
Leonard Cohen,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Terry Callier,
The Martian,
Eli Mardock,
Jawbox,
Moss Icon,
Thompson Twins,
The Gap Band,
Black Moon,
MC5,
The Offenders,
Pharoah Sanders,
Niagra,
Jeff Mills,
Porter Ricks,
Reagan Youth,
Absolute Body Control,
Suicide,
Fifty Foot Hose,
the Sonics,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
One Last Wish,
Amon Düül II,
Agitation Free, Agitation Free, Agitation Free, Agitation Free.
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.