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 Angola and from Houston.
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 1966 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Mexico City.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Glasgow 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 mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers 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 Bush Tetras to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Saints. All the underground hits.
All The Evens tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a R.M.O. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Youth Brigade,
H. Thieme,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Sällskapet,
Idris Muhammad,
Ten City,
the Human League,
Boz Scaggs,
Alton Ellis,
Pharoah Sanders,
Moss Icon,
The Cure,
Das Ding,
The Names,
Robert Wyatt,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Pet Shop Boys,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Radiohead,
Lalo Schifrin,
New York Dolls,
Visage,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Eric Dolphy,
The Beau Brummels,
the Soft Cell,
Altered Images,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
DJ Style,
Swell Maps,
Rites of Spring,
Con Funk Shun,
Tom Boy,
The Busters,
One Last Wish,
Procol Harum,
Section 25,
Malaria!,
Scrapy,
Chris Corsano,
Royal Trux,
Rotary Connection,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
These Immortal Souls,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Soft Cell,
Dorothy Ashby,
The New Christs,
B.T. Express,
Robert Görl,
Quadrant,
Lindisfarne,
John Holt,
Althea and Donna,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Kevin Saunderson,
Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster, Prince Buster.
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.