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 Sri Lanka and from Seoul.
But I was there.
I was there in .
I was there at the first Suicide show in New York.
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 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 CMW to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Stiv Bators. All the underground hits.
All The Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Sonny Sharrock 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a spring reverb and an organ 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 clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
World's Most,
Lindisfarne,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Eric Copeland,
Clear Light,
Iggy Pop,
Jeff Mills,
John Cale,
Ken Boothe,
The Blues Magoos,
Donald Byrd,
Eli Mardock,
Buzzcocks,
Jerry's Kids,
The Durutti Column,
Bootsy Collins,
T.S.O.L.,
Robert Wyatt,
Ultravox,
the Soft Cell,
Suicide,
Sam Rivers,
OOIOO,
Heaven 17,
Marine Girls,
Cheater Slicks,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Nick Fraelich,
The Sound,
Gang Starr,
The Beau Brummels,
Prince Buster,
Sister Nancy,
Stereo Dub,
Gil Scott Heron,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Delon & Dalcan,
Cybotron,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Kaleidoscope,
Grandmaster Flash,
Monolake,
Moebius,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Ludus,
Zero Boys,
Sun City Girls,
The Red Krayola,
The Litter,
Bizarre Inc.,
Niagra,
Faust,
The Modern Lovers,
Young Marble Giants,
The Names,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Minnie Riperton,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sexual Harrassment,
Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green, Gang Green.
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.