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 Germany and from Glasgow.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Johannesburg and Stockholm.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart 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 Matthew Halsall to the punk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 cv313. All the underground hits.
All Nils Olav tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge 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 a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Sparks,
the Normal,
Gastr Del Sol,
Leonard Cohen,
Crash Course in Science,
Lucky Dragons,
Camberwell Now,
The Electric Prunes,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
The Raincoats,
Funky Four + One,
Quantec,
Lee Hazlewood,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Donny Hathaway,
Soulsonic Force,
Cheater Slicks,
K-Klass,
Newcleus,
Ralphi Rosario,
the Sonics,
Flash Fearless,
Hot Snakes,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Stereo Dub,
Stetsasonic,
Circle Jerks,
Albert Ayler,
Panda Bear,
Section 25,
Carl Craig,
Traffic Nightmare,
New York Dolls,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ultravox,
Ten City,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Nico,
Sister Nancy,
Deadbeat,
Aloha Tigers,
Steve Hackett,
Bobby Womack,
The Victims,
Neil Young,
Wasted Youth,
Bizarre Inc.,
Yazoo,
The Move,
Gichy Dan,
John Cale,
LL Cool J,
Heaven 17,
Organ,
Jacob Miller,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Crime,
Intrusion,
Fluxion,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four, Gang of Four.
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.