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 Benin and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
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 1965 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Young Rascals to the grunge kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Altered Images. All the underground hits.
All Cluster tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Seeds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a clarinet and a rhodes 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 organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Joensuu 1685,
The Fuzztones,
This Heat,
Suburban Knight,
Outsiders,
The Raincoats,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
LL Cool J,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Con Funk Shun,
Idris Muhammad,
Animal Collective,
The Standells,
Wire,
Theoretical Girls,
Vladislav Delay,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Kerri Chandler,
Joe Smooth,
Blake Baxter,
Khruangbin,
Suicide,
Angry Samoans,
Max Romeo,
Eurythmics,
ABC,
The Detroit Cobras,
Carl Craig,
Crispy Ambulance,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Panda Bear,
Pet Shop Boys,
Hot Snakes,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Gabor Szabo,
MC5,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The New Christs,
Organ,
Bob Dylan,
The Music Machine,
Ultimate Spinach,
Essential Logic,
Rakim,
cv313,
Television Personalities,
Mo-Dettes,
Skarface,
Flamin' Groovies,
John Cale,
The Monks,
Stockholm Monsters,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Techniques,
The Associates,
New Order,
Donny Hathaway,
Masters at Work,
Bad Manners,
Pantytec,
The Sonics,
Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman, Colin Newman.
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.