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 Ecuador and from Lyon.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1961 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Beijing.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna 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 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Banda Bassotti to the jazz kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Jacques Brel. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 mellotron and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Toasters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Funkadelic,
Marcia Griffiths,
Amon Düül II,
Ituana,
H. Thieme,
Yusef Lateef,
Todd Terry,
The Monochrome Set,
Grandmaster Flash,
Rhythm & Sound,
Stockholm Monsters,
Moss Icon,
Surgeon,
Aloha Tigers,
Sparks,
The Barracudas,
The Index,
Altered Images,
Thompson Twins,
Pantytec,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
48th St. Collective,
Sixth Finger,
Pet Shop Boys,
The Seeds,
David McCallum,
LL Cool J,
Khruangbin,
Slick Rick,
Kayak,
Loose Ends,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Albert Ayler,
Todd Rundgren,
The Move,
Scrapy,
The Grass Roots,
Girls At Our Best!,
Depeche Mode,
Nirvana,
The Motions,
Roger Hodgson,
The Birthday Party,
Index,
Bronski Beat,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Main Source,
Crispian St. Peters,
Shoche,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Motorama,
Joe Smooth,
Jerry's Kids,
In Retrospect,
Hardrive,
Vainqueur,
Gang of Four,
The Toasters,
Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus.
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.