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 Montenegro and from Spokane.
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 1963 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 1977 at the first Mistral practice in a loft in Amsterdam.
I was working on the harpsichord 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 Groovy Waters to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan. All the underground hits.
All Crooked Eye tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Make Up record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a T.S.O.L. record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Niagra,
Todd Rundgren,
Radiohead,
The Wake,
Section 25,
Letta Mbulu,
Outsiders,
The Divine Comedy,
Radiopuhelimet,
Aaron Thompson,
Whodini,
The Residents,
The Slits,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Delta 5,
Suicide,
The Smiths,
Piero Umiliani,
The Skatalites,
Kayak,
Amon Düül II,
Anthony Braxton,
The Slackers,
Dennis Brown,
Rites of Spring,
Blake Baxter,
Iggy Pop,
Chris Corsano,
Zapp,
The Count Five,
Jerry's Kids,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Gories,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Q and Not U,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Matthew Halsall,
Spandau Ballet,
Crooked Eye,
a-ha,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Eric Copeland,
Slick Rick,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Dorothy Ashby,
June of 44,
Con Funk Shun,
New York Dolls,
Black Bananas,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Kool Moe Dee,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
This Heat,
New Age Steppers,
the Fania All-Stars,
Black Flag,
Stockholm Monsters,
LL Cool J,
The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps, The Cramps.
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.