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 Botswana 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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 arpeggiator 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 Eurythmics to the dance 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 Yellowson. All the underground hits.
All Drexciya tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Unwound 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and a harpsichord 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 808 and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alison Limerick,
Lou Reed,
Yusef Lateef,
Circle Jerks,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Mandrill,
Wire,
The Star Department,
The Names,
Crispian St. Peters,
Echospace,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Ludus,
Theoretical Girls,
Althea and Donna,
The Last Poets,
Ornette Coleman,
Pere Ubu,
B.T. Express,
Man Eating Sloth,
Rufus Thomas,
Pierre Henry,
Mad Mike,
Rites of Spring,
Mary Jane Girls,
Lalann,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
Kerri Chandler,
Sandy B,
Robert Wyatt,
Davy DMX,
Bill Wells,
The United States of America,
Little Man,
Ronnie Foster,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Steve Hackett,
John Foxx,
Minutemen,
Flash Fearless,
Ultravox,
Soul Sonic Force,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Q65,
Brothers Johnson,
Swell Maps,
Bob Dylan,
Franke,
Marc Almond,
Slick Rick,
Pet Shop Boys,
Bobby Byrd,
The Music Machine,
The Moleskins,
Sex Pistols,
OOIOO,
Qualms,
Barclay James Harvest,
Prince Buster,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Scientists,
U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple, U.S. Maple.
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.