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 Nicaragua and from Bremen.
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 1965 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Copenhagen and Mumbai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Eric Dolphy to the crunk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Tremeloes. All the underground hits.
All X-101 tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Index record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rhythm & Sound record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Man Eating Sloth,
Nik Kershaw,
Ultimate Spinach,
Connie Case,
Godley & Creme,
Be Bop Deluxe,
the Association,
The Real Kids,
Funkadelic,
The Raincoats,
Deepchord,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
The Toasters,
Max Romeo,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
Bob Dylan,
Bush Tetras,
Alice Coltrane,
Gang of Four,
Malaria!,
Radio Birdman,
Flash Fearless,
Panda Bear,
Bill Wells,
Byron Stingily,
Japan,
Vainqueur,
Moebius,
Boredoms,
D'Angelo,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Glenn Branca,
Soulsonic Force,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Peter & Gordon,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Wire,
The Leaves,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Can,
The Offenders,
Yusef Lateef,
Fear,
The Alarm Clocks,
Crime,
Bootsy Collins,
Blake Baxter,
The Black Dice,
Freddie Wadling,
Scott Walker,
Todd Rundgren,
Donald Byrd,
Aswad,
Soft Cell,
Supertramp,
Idris Muhammad,
Sparks,
Shuggie Otis,
Marc Almond,
The Gap Band,
The Gun Club,
F. McDonald, F. McDonald, F. McDonald, F. McDonald.
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.