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 Turkmenistan and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Chic show in New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Woodstock.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 Bronski Beat practice in a loft in Brixton.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 FM Einheit to the rap kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Jandek. All the underground hits.
All Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s 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 Rosa Yemen record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
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 Germs,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Andrew Hill,
Lucky Dragons,
Henry Cow,
Gang Green,
Funky Four + One,
Lyres,
Youth Brigade,
Moss Icon,
Bang On A Can,
Brass Construction,
Pierre Henry,
Michelle Simonal,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Crash Course in Science,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Rufus Thomas,
Scrapy,
Faust,
Howard Jones,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
John Lydon,
Ponytail,
Robert Hood,
Derrick May,
The Mummies,
Scratch Acid,
Technova,
The Wake,
Siglo XX,
Loose Ends,
Inner City,
Bobby Womack,
The Motions,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Soul Sonic Force,
Ornette Coleman,
David Bowie,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
John Foxx,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Joey Negro,
The Kinks,
Harry Pussy,
Matthew Bourne,
Theoretical Girls,
Steve Hackett,
Khruangbin,
The Cowsills,
Joy Division,
Kayak,
Joe Smooth,
Gang Starr,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Parry Music,
Con Funk Shun,
Ice-T,
Curtis Mayfield,
Ken Boothe,
Rekid,
Laurel Aitken,
Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange, Agent Orange.
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.