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 Nigeria and from Winnipeg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid 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 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Throbbing Gristle to the jazz kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Spoonie Gee. All the underground hits.
All Symarip tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every JFA record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 snare and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a James Chance & The Contortions record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Boogie Down Productions,
Sight & Sound,
Thompson Twins,
Aural Exciters,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Traffic Nightmare,
Excepter,
Organ,
Public Enemy,
Avey Tare,
Boredoms,
Gregory Isaacs,
kango's stein massive,
The Electric Prunes,
Japan,
The Cramps,
Peter and Kerry,
Faraquet,
Dual Sessions,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lungfish,
the Association,
Cameo,
Terrestrial Tones,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Ultra Naté,
The Barracudas,
Rotary Connection,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Gastr Del Sol,
Television Personalities,
Kerrie Biddell,
Alison Limerick,
Maurizio,
Soul Sonic Force,
Kurtis Blow,
Gil Scott Heron,
Michelle Simonal,
The Sonics,
E-Dancer,
Eddi Front,
T.S.O.L.,
The Smoke,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Saints,
The Human League,
Glenn Branca,
Sixth Finger,
Donald Byrd,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Byron Stingily,
Masters at Work,
Scion,
the Normal,
Loose Ends,
Pantaleimon,
John Coltrane,
The Gories,
Supertramp,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
the Human League,
Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Bobby Byrd.
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.