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 Costa Rica and from New York.
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 1968 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 spring reverb sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald 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 Accadde A to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Nils Olav. All the underground hits.
All A Flock of Seagulls tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tim Buckley 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 an arpeggiator and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sarah Menescal record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sun City Girls,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
The Selecter,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Bobby Byrd,
Donny Hathaway,
Con Funk Shun,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Camberwell Now,
Bad Manners,
Rosa Yemen,
Wally Richardson,
Sugar Minott,
Ultravox,
ABBA,
Tubeway Army,
The Velvet Underground,
Jeru the Damaja,
the Fania All-Stars,
Brick,
A Certain Ratio,
Flash Fearless,
Brothers Johnson,
the Normal,
James White and The Blacks,
Roger Hodgson,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Fear,
Skriet,
These Immortal Souls,
F. McDonald,
Skarface,
Gil Scott Heron,
Television Personalities,
Soul II Soul,
Pulsallama,
Moebius,
Duran Duran,
Liliput,
New York Dolls,
Peter and Kerry,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Tropical Tobacco,
The Names,
Electric Prunes,
Jerry Gold Smith,
The Star Department,
Spoonie Gee,
Amon Düül,
Average White Band,
Black Pus,
The Buckinghams,
Fatback Band,
Rod Modell,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Peter & Gordon,
Black Sheep,
The Monochrome Set,
Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed, Lou Reed.
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.