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 Brunei and from Toronto.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Throbbing Gristle 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 1964 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in London and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Woodstock 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 1977 at the first Zapp practice in a loft in Hamilton.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Chrome to the dance 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 Ralphi Rosario. All the underground hits.
All Technova tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gang Gang Dance 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Fugazi record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a spring reverb.
I hear that you and your band have sold your spring reverb and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
James Chance & The Contortions,
Make Up,
The Raincoats,
Bush Tetras,
Freddie Wadling,
Yaz,
Grandmaster Flash,
Byron Stingily,
Sexual Harrassment,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Crash Course in Science,
Erasure,
Moss Icon,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Howard Jones,
The Remains,
The Toasters,
Masters at Work,
Sound Behaviour,
Camouflage,
UT,
Malaria!,
Qualms,
Slick Rick,
Todd Rundgren,
Goldenarms,
Donald Byrd,
Lucky Dragons,
The Doors,
the Association,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Moody Blues,
The Seeds,
Roger Hodgson,
Deepchord,
Jerry's Kids,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Hardrive,
The Cowsills,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
In Retrospect,
The New Christs,
Spoonie Gee,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Monks,
The Zeros,
Eric Copeland,
Eric B and Rakim,
Outsiders,
Adolescents,
Moebius,
the Human League,
Sister Nancy,
Eurythmics,
Bobby Byrd,
The Offenders,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Nik Kershaw,
Thee Headcoats,
Gichy Dan,
Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux, Royal Trux.
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.