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 Senegal and from Paris.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Zapp show in Hamilton.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 1987 at the first Nirvana practice in a loft in Seattle.
I was working on the organ 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 Rufus Thomas to the disco kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 The Men They Couldn't Hang. All the underground hits.
All Agent Orange tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Janne Schatter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 synthesizer and a linndrum 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 theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Zero Boys,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Gil Scott Heron,
Sparks,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
the Sonics,
Amon Düül,
Duran Duran,
Theoretical Girls,
Guru Guru,
Nirvana,
Oneida,
The Offenders,
Johnny Osbourne,
Gerry Rafferty,
10cc,
Boz Scaggs,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Popol Vuh,
Agitation Free,
David McCallum,
The New Christs,
Soulsonic Force,
Skarface,
Bobby Byrd,
Patti Smith,
MC5,
Black Pus,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
The Divine Comedy,
Judy Mowatt,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
T.S.O.L.,
Maurizio,
Cheater Slicks,
Brand Nubian,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
LL Cool J,
Rekid,
Rapeman,
Soul II Soul,
Ossler,
Sexual Harrassment,
Massinfluence,
Bill Near,
Eli Mardock,
The Gun Club,
Arthur Verocai,
Cluster,
Niagra,
a-ha,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lalo Schifrin,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
ABC,
DNA,
Johnny Clarke,
The Fall, The Fall, The Fall, The Fall.
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.