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 Israel and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 a-ha to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Glenn Branca. All the underground hits.
All The New Christs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Sisters of Mercy record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slackers record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Smoke,
The Black Dice,
The Standells,
Crime,
Magma,
Tropical Tobacco,
Reagan Youth,
Fugazi,
Eden Ahbez,
Agent Orange,
The Martian,
K-Klass,
Fat Boys,
Severed Heads,
Ponytail,
The Birthday Party,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
the Soft Cell,
Aaron Thompson,
Cluster,
Ornette Coleman,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Soft Machine,
The Fire Engines,
Tommy Roe,
Marmalade,
The Slits,
The Angels of Light,
Make Up,
La Düsseldorf,
Frankie Knuckles,
David McCallum,
Flamin' Groovies,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Lou Reed,
Donny Hathaway,
Cal Tjader,
Amazonics,
Symarip,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Gories,
Surgeon,
New York Dolls,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Kenny Larkin,
New Age Steppers,
Eric B and Rakim,
Wire,
Franke,
Kaleidoscope,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Walker Brothers,
Wasted Youth,
Mantronix,
Ronnie Foster,
the Swans,
Derrick May,
Monks, Monks, Monks, Monks.
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.