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 Belarus and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
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 1961 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Seoul.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 1968 at the first Bowie practice in a loft in Bromley.
I was working on the sitar 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 Warsaw to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines. All the underground hits.
All Crispy Ambulance tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Techniques record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime 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 guitar and a theremin 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 mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mojo Men,
Skarface,
Archie Shepp,
Angry Samoans,
Stereo Dub,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Sister Nancy,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Fatback Band,
Man Eating Sloth,
The Count Five,
Nico,
Ronan,
The Invisible,
The Star Department,
The Velvet Underground,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Y Pants,
Boogie Down Productions,
Joe Finger,
Chris & Cosey,
Jeru the Damaja,
Television,
Franke,
The Human League,
Graham Central Station,
Negative Approach,
Alice Coltrane,
The Victims,
La Düsseldorf,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
B.T. Express,
Pere Ubu,
Parry Music,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Ultra Naté,
Lou Reed,
R.M.O.,
Crash Course in Science,
Delon & Dalcan,
Slave,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Josef K,
Yusef Lateef,
Eddi Front,
Monks,
The Cramps,
The Five Americans,
Arthur Verocai,
Second Layer,
Flash Fearless,
Roy Ayers,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Kas Product,
The Monks,
Symarip,
Sun City Girls,
Mr. Review,
Gerry Rafferty,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Wake,
Deakin,
Ludus, Ludus, Ludus, Ludus.
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.