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 Peru and from Lyon.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Beijing and Paris.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Sao Paulo 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 1971 at the first Selda practice in a loft in Istanbul.
I was working on the 808 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 Henry Cow to the punk 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 Barbara Tucker. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Pussy Galore record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an organ 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 mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kurtis Blow,
Rakim,
Thee Headcoats,
La Düsseldorf,
Black Pus,
Deakin,
Mission of Burma,
Peter and Kerry,
Lindisfarne,
The Star Department,
Stiv Bators,
Terry Callier,
Babytalk,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Newcleus,
Second Layer,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Drive Like Jehu,
Tom Boy,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Gastr Del Sol,
Fat Boys,
The Fire Engines,
Porter Ricks,
Marvin Gaye,
Thompson Twins,
Loose Ends,
James White and The Blacks,
New Age Steppers,
Nico,
Bang On A Can,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Michelle Simonal,
Ralphi Rosario,
Vainqueur,
Niagra,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
The Doors,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
The Martian,
Traffic Nightmare,
Surgeon,
Parry Music,
The Detroit Cobras,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Don Cherry,
Lou Christie,
Black Flag,
Grauzone,
D'Angelo,
Dawn Penn,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
The Cure,
Nation of Ulysses,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Pere Ubu,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Pantytec,
Silicon Teens,
Sound Behaviour,
Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr, Gang Starr.
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.