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 Honduras and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Buzzcocks show in Bolton.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 Holger Czukay 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 Sarah Menescal to the funk 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 Warsaw. All the underground hits.
All The Motions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Barbara Tucker record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lou Reed & Metallica record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Flesh Eaters,
John Cale,
Pere Ubu,
Matthew Bourne,
Brothers Johnson,
Pole,
Young Marble Giants,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Japan,
The Five Americans,
OOIOO,
Fad Gadget,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
AZ,
Mandrill,
Tres Demented,
Gastr Del Sol,
Althea and Donna,
Lightning Bolt,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Quando Quango,
Davy DMX,
Rufus Thomas,
The Skatalites,
Soft Machine,
Lindisfarne,
Albert Ayler,
Goldenarms,
Bootsy Collins,
Amon Düül,
Alton Ellis,
Icehouse,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Saints,
Black Pus,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
FM Einheit,
PIL,
The Monochrome Set,
Isaac Hayes,
Barclay James Harvest,
Brass Construction,
Public Image Ltd.,
Tomorrow,
Eric Copeland,
Sandy B,
K-Klass,
Ronnie Foster,
Lee Hazlewood,
Joy Division,
The Names,
Spoonie Gee,
Oblivians,
The Searchers,
Dark Day,
Model 500,
John Foxx,
Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls, Theoretical Girls.
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.