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 Tunisia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Susan Cadogan. All the underground hits.
All Severed Heads tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bad Manners 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 clarinet and a linndrum 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 sitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet 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,
Dorothy Ashby,
Jacob Miller,
Bob Dylan,
Massinfluence,
Rhythm & Sound,
The Moleskins,
Joe Smooth,
Audionom,
Grandmaster Flash,
kango's stein massive,
X-101,
Von Mondo,
Lungfish,
Quadrant,
Crispian St. Peters,
Ituana,
Rosa Yemen,
The Raincoats,
Q and Not U,
The Trojans,
Davy DMX,
The Motions,
Don Cherry,
Soul II Soul,
Excepter,
D'Angelo,
Kas Product,
The Vogues,
Bush Tetras,
the Bar-Kays,
Minny Pops,
Royal Trux,
Brothers Johnson,
Brick,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Public Enemy,
Chris & Cosey,
Pierre Henry,
Johnny Clarke,
MC5,
Robert Görl,
Alice Coltrane,
CMW,
The Dead C,
Pylon,
Josef K,
Roy Ayers,
Young Marble Giants,
Deadbeat,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Ultimate Spinach,
DJ Sneak,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Index,
The Fortunes,
Isaac Hayes,
Derrick May,
One Last Wish,
The Seeds,
Blancmange,
Neu!, Neu!, Neu!, Neu!.
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.