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 Russia and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Pantaleimon to the rock 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 Dawn Penn. All the underground hits.
All David McCallum tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Echo & the Bunnymen record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a 808 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 rhodes and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Dirtbombs,
Jandek,
Gang of Four,
Ponytail,
Grauzone,
LL Cool J,
Nas,
Brand Nubian,
Porter Ricks,
Can,
Godley & Creme,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Eli Mardock,
The Techniques,
Peter and Kerry,
Stetsasonic,
JFA,
Crispian St. Peters,
Lightning Bolt,
Kas Product,
Suicide,
The Associates,
Kool Moe Dee,
Mission of Burma,
Bill Wells,
The Misunderstood,
Subhumans,
FM Einheit,
Scott Walker,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
D'Angelo,
Sonic Youth,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Popol Vuh,
Gastr Del Sol,
Drexciya,
Jacques Brel,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Kaleidoscope,
Eddi Front,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Pole,
The Evens,
Deadbeat,
Matthew Halsall,
Mandrill,
Judy Mowatt,
Mo-Dettes,
Marvin Gaye,
Bronski Beat,
Rites of Spring,
Nirvana,
Ronnie Foster,
Pantytec,
Charles Mingus,
Man Eating Sloth,
Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick, Slick Rick.
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.