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 San Marino and from Calgary.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Calgary 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 clarinet 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 Traffic Nightmare to the funk 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 The Golliwogs. All the underground hits.
All Cecil Taylor tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Crash Course in Science 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 a clarinet and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lungfish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a rhodes.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Joe Finger,
Sandy B,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
The Grass Roots,
Cal Tjader,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Au Pairs,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Stooges,
Delon & Dalcan,
Hashim,
T.S.O.L.,
De La Soul & Jungle Brothers,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Josef K,
Wasted Youth,
Agent Orange,
Black Flag,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Desert Stars,
John Holt,
Ludus,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
Sarah Menescal,
Moss Icon,
Gang Starr,
Animal Collective,
Amon Düül II,
Marvin Gaye,
The Count Five,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Gang Gang Dance,
Blake Baxter,
Connie Case,
Roy Ayers,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Sixth Finger,
The Last Poets,
Al Stewart,
Electric Light Orchestra,
The Buckinghams,
Kayak,
Gong,
The Flesh Eaters,
The Misunderstood,
Mark Hollis,
Gang Green,
Anakelly,
Kaleidoscope,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Marmalade,
Alton Ellis,
Scan 7,
Shuggie Otis,
Colin Newman,
X-Ray Spex,
Lyres,
Marshall Jefferson,
Mary Jane Girls,
Glenn Branca,
The Dead C,
Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms.
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.