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 Suriname and from Beijing.
But I was there.
I was there in 1984.
I was there at the first Arcadia show in London.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Sao Paulo.
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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane to the grime kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Heaven 17. All the underground hits.
All The Real Kids tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barry Ungar record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 marimba and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Soul II Soul record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Robert Görl,
the Slits,
Traffic Nightmare,
Pierre Henry,
Flipper,
Simply Red,
Anakelly,
Amazonics,
U.S. Maple,
Half Japanese,
Ultravox,
the Soft Cell,
Marc Almond,
Symarip,
Josef K,
Oneida,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Five Americans,
Pantytec,
The Fugs,
Scientists,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Schoolly D,
Country Teasers,
The Trojans,
Chris Corsano,
The Moleskins,
Joy Division,
Fear,
Monolake,
Sun Ra,
Laurel Aitken,
The Busters,
The Electric Prunes,
Fluxion,
The Golliwogs,
Suicide,
Little Man,
Mandrill,
The Cramps,
La Düsseldorf,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Evens,
Jandek,
Eurythmics,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Ossler,
Lightning Bolt,
Magma,
Swell Maps,
The Neon Judgement,
The Vogues,
Eric B and Rakim,
Fort Wilson Riot,
10cc,
Radiohead,
Bauhaus,
Soft Cell,
Spandau Ballet,
Black Sheep,
A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio, A Certain Ratio.
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.