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 Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Toronto and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 2001 at the first Tiga practice in a loft in Montreal.
I was working on the spring reverb 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 Rod Modell to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Motorama. All the underground hits.
All Cal Tjader tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every A Certain Ratio record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk 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 an oboe 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 guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Todd Rundgren,
Yusef Lateef,
Flamin' Groovies,
Derrick May,
Prince Buster,
Mad Mike,
The Skatalites,
John Coltrane,
Boredoms,
JFA,
The Electric Prunes,
The Slits,
Mary Jane Girls,
Dual Sessions,
Soft Machine,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Half Japanese,
Tres Demented,
Soul Sonic Force,
Amon Düül,
kango's stein massive,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Anthony Braxton,
Slave,
MC5,
X-Ray Spex,
DJ Style,
the Bar-Kays,
UT,
Black Flag,
Gang Gang Dance,
Dave Gahan,
The Raincoats,
The Index,
The Durutti Column,
Graham Central Station,
Erasure,
Inner City,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Grauzone,
The Gories,
a-ha,
James White and The Blacks,
Nik Kershaw,
Rod Modell,
Sight & Sound,
Yazoo,
The Residents,
Lalann,
Ice-T,
Hashim,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lungfish,
John Lydon,
Los Fastidios,
Gerry Rafferty,
The Detroit Cobras,
Max Romeo,
Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes, Hot Snakes.
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.