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 Burundi and from New York.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 The Birthday Party 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 Bob Dylan. All the underground hits.
All Albert Ayler tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Notorious Big And Bone Thugs record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Gun Club record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Yellowson,
Sun City Girls,
Todd Terry,
Pylon,
Jawbox,
The Victims,
Q65,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Joensuu 1685,
Bad Manners,
Robert Hood,
Babytalk,
UT,
Faust,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Man Parrish,
The Walker Brothers,
Brick,
June of 44,
Tim Buckley,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Cecil Taylor,
Kurtis Blow,
Cybotron,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Rosa Yemen,
Siglo XX,
Ponytail,
Newcleus,
Warsaw,
Joey Negro,
Joy Division,
Monolake,
Pet Shop Boys,
Tropical Tobacco,
Pagans,
Dawn Penn,
Agitation Free,
Nik Kershaw,
Urselle,
Ten City,
Anthony Braxton,
Eyeless In Gaza,
the Swans,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Howard Jones,
Avey Tare,
Pulsallama,
Public Enemy,
Crispy Ambulance,
Chrome,
Robert Wyatt,
Dead Boys,
Marine Girls,
Guru Guru,
Minor Threat,
The Dead C,
Altered Images,
Ultimate Spinach,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.