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 Ireland and from Beijing.
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 1965 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Edmonton and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Max Romeo to the crunk 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 Mark Hollis. All the underground hits.
All The Zeros tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pulsallama record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Martian record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dark Day,
Lungfish,
Joy Division,
Minnie Riperton,
Joe Smooth,
Talk Talk,
Pulsallama,
Glambeats Corp.,
L. Decosne,
Mad Mike,
The Pretty Things,
Sam Rivers,
Von Mondo,
Audionom,
Suburban Knight,
Babytalk,
John Holt,
The Zeros,
Letta Mbulu,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Liliput,
Arcadia,
Laurel Aitken,
Whodini,
Skarface,
Rekid,
Crash Course in Science,
Barry Ungar,
The Golliwogs,
Sexual Harrassment,
Soft Cell,
Pole,
The Human League,
Adolescents,
World's Most,
Eric Dolphy,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Janne Schatter,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Bang On A Can,
Iggy Pop,
Jeru the Damaja,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
LL Cool J,
Bad Manners,
Shuggie Otis,
Organ,
Masters at Work,
Minor Threat,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Gastr Del Sol,
Pere Ubu,
Ornette Coleman,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
R.M.O.,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Althea and Donna,
Grauzone,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Popol Vuh,
Hasil Adkins,
Lalann, Lalann, Lalann, Lalann.
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.