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 Ukraine and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Bowie show in Bromley.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lyon 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 1976 at the first Buzzcocks practice in a loft in Bolton.
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 New Age Steppers to the grunge 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 Marcia Griffiths. All the underground hits.
All Manfred Mann's Earth Band tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pere Ubu record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
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 Colin Newman record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron 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,
The Standells,
Mandrill,
Jeff Mills,
U.S. Maple,
Marc Almond,
Amon Düül,
K-Klass,
The Smoke,
Marine Girls,
Skriet,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
OOIOO,
Harmonia,
Tommy Roe,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Erasure,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Minnie Riperton,
Whodini,
Andrew Hill,
Laurel Aitken,
Marshall Jefferson,
kango's stein massive,
F. McDonald,
Procol Harum,
Grauzone,
Bobby Byrd,
Cecil Taylor,
Aswad,
Gong,
Amon Düül II,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Brass Construction,
The Saints,
Soulsonic Force,
T.S.O.L.,
New Age Steppers,
the Swans,
Susan Cadogan,
Symarip,
Depeche Mode,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Alton Ellis,
LL Cool J,
Bad Manners,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Main Source,
Connie Case,
Kayak,
Dead Boys,
Von Mondo,
Basic Channel,
Wasted Youth,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Terrestrial Tones,
David Axelrod,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.