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 Sudan and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1977.
I was there at the first Human League show in Sheffield.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Copenhagen 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 Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 The Litter to the rap kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 KRS-One. All the underground hits.
All Gregory Isaacs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Patti Smith record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
MC5,
Joensuu 1685,
Infiniti,
World's Most,
Harpers Bizarre,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Boz Scaggs,
Babytalk,
One Last Wish,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Wake,
Idris Muhammad,
The Pop Group,
Aural Exciters,
Rotary Connection,
H. Thieme,
Ronan,
Crime,
Khruangbin,
Ice-T,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
The New Christs,
Country Teasers,
Byron Stingily,
Ken Boothe,
Grey Daturas,
The Vogues,
Audionom,
Second Layer,
The Zeros,
Masters at Work,
Nik Kershaw,
Gang Gang Dance,
China Crisis,
Cheater Slicks,
The J.B.'s,
Marmalade,
Matthew Bourne,
Derrick May,
Underground Resistance,
Depeche Mode,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
The Techniques,
Yaz,
Von Mondo,
X-Ray Spex,
The Smiths,
Qualms,
Rhythm & Sound,
Josef K,
Delon & Dalcan,
Little Man,
Outsiders,
Harmonia,
Jacob Miller,
The Fugs,
Pantytec,
Fugazi,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Lindisfarne,
The Slits, The Slits, The Slits, The Slits.
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.