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 Australia and from Seoul.
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 1963 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Lagos.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school London 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 Wire practice in a loft in Watford.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Thompson Twins to the rock 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 The Royal Family And The Poor. All the underground hits.
All Peter & Gordon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Cybotron record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno 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 guitar and an arpeggiator 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 clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bad Manners,
EPMD,
Lebanon Hanover,
June of 44,
Brothers Johnson,
Sex Pistols,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Henry Cow,
Desert Stars,
Shoche,
PIL,
Rotary Connection,
Agent Orange,
Quando Quango,
L. Decosne,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Metal Thangz,
Lalo Schifrin,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Drive Like Jehu,
X-102,
Warsaw,
Flamin' Groovies,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Scrapy,
Can,
10cc,
Rufus Thomas,
Crash Course in Science,
Marmalade,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Fort Wilson Riot,
The Alarm Clocks,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Gregory Isaacs,
Marine Girls,
Suburban Knight,
Morten Harket,
David Bowie,
Public Image Ltd.,
Robert Hood,
Curtis Mayfield,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Alton Ellis,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Darondo,
Tres Demented,
Barclay James Harvest,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Brick,
Boz Scaggs,
Neil Young,
Rhythm & Sound,
Big Daddy Kane,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Essential Logic,
Saccharine Trust,
Eden Ahbez,
Swell Maps,
Jandek, Jandek, Jandek, Jandek.
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.