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 Lebanon and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1963 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Jakarta 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the clarinet 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 Camberwell Now 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 Masters at Work. All the underground hits.
All Stiv Bators tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Jandek record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum 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 harpsichord and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eyeless In Gaza,
James White and The Blacks,
The Sound,
Soft Machine,
Can,
the Germs,
The Mummies,
The Trojans,
ABC,
Glambeats Corp.,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Names,
Das Ding,
Television Personalities,
Max Romeo,
Sonic Youth,
The Stooges,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Connie Case,
Angry Samoans,
the Normal,
The Fire Engines,
Erasure,
Avey Tare,
Morten Harket,
Sandy B,
DJ Style,
Jesper Dahlback,
Drexciya,
The Skatalites,
Gabor Szabo,
Audionom,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Harry Pussy,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
David Axelrod,
Man Parrish,
The Shadows of Knight,
Johnny Clarke,
Mary Jane Girls,
Scientists,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Marmalade,
Au Pairs,
Procol Harum,
EPMD,
Babytalk,
Brick,
Grandmaster Flash,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Young Rascals,
X-Ray Spex,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The United States of America,
10cc,
Bauhaus,
Groovy Waters,
Joey Negro,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee, Spoonie Gee.
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.