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 Portland.
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 1969 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and London.
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 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed 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 Niagra to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Move. All the underground hits.
All 10cc tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nico record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a New Order record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Electric Prunes,
Barclay James Harvest,
Scott Walker,
U.S. Maple,
Wasted Youth,
Joyce Sims,
Sexual Harrassment,
The Move,
Public Image Ltd.,
Big Daddy Kane,
Anthony Braxton,
The Red Krayola,
Sonic Youth,
Scratch Acid,
Siglo XX,
Boogie Down Productions,
Sun City Girls,
Basic Channel,
Reagan Youth,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Janne Schatter,
The Mummies,
Funkadelic,
Cameo,
Smog,
Moby Grape,
The Golliwogs,
New York Dolls,
John Cale,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
The Techniques,
Bluetip,
Quantec,
Porter Ricks,
Faust,
Tomorrow,
Marvin Gaye,
Blossom Toes,
the Swans,
Judy Mowatt,
June of 44,
Soul II Soul,
AZ,
Marine Girls,
Susan Cadogan,
Connie Case,
Terrestrial Tones,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Lungfish,
Stetsasonic,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Residents,
Toni Rubio,
Sun Ra,
Eric Dolphy,
Don Cherry,
Negative Approach,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Echospace,
Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms, Goldenarms.
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.