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 Manchester.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 theremin 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 Bobby Womack to the jazz 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 Blossom Toes. All the underground hits.
All U.S. Maple tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every David Bowie record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Cowsills record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Mandrill,
Big Daddy Kane,
B.T. Express,
Ice-T,
Masters at Work,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Severed Heads,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Invisible,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Rites of Spring,
Nils Olav,
Johnny Clarke,
Bang On A Can,
Joe Finger,
China Crisis,
The Busters,
Von Mondo,
Lindisfarne,
Piero Umiliani,
Gichy Dan,
Motorama,
Babytalk,
The Fall,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Metal Thangz,
Banda Bassotti,
the Swans,
Cameo,
Slick Rick,
The Cowsills,
Index,
Matthew Halsall,
Alton Ellis,
Magma,
Nas,
Shoche,
Carl Craig,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Aswad,
Kerri Chandler,
The Star Department,
Ash Ra Tempel,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Sun City Girls,
The Cure,
Lower 48,
Marcia Griffiths,
Ohio Players,
Nico,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
8 Eyed Spy,
T.S.O.L.,
Sparks,
Scientists,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Matthew Bourne,
Easy Going,
Black Flag,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic, Stetsasonic.
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.