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 Dominica and from Mumbai.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mumbai and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Edmonton 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 chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Simply Red to the funk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Sun Ra. All the underground hits.
All MDC tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Tremeloes 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Liaisons Dangereuses record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pet Shop Boys,
Cecil Taylor,
Sight & Sound,
Avey Tare,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Sam Rivers,
The Doobie Brothers,
Drexciya,
Nick Fraelich,
Bush Tetras,
Magma,
Tres Demented,
Das Ding,
CMW,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Pagans,
Alphaville,
Q and Not U,
Sun Ra,
Fad Gadget,
The Beau Brummels,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Eric Dolphy,
Ronan,
Hoover,
The Moleskins,
The Grass Roots,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Chrome,
The Martian,
Pussy Galore,
Flamin' Groovies,
Joensuu 1685,
The Young Rascals,
Whodini,
Cameo,
Unrelated Segments,
Ossler,
Reagan Youth,
David Axelrod,
Man Parrish,
Pantaleimon,
The Fuzztones,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Funky Four + One,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Max Romeo,
Stereo Dub,
Hardrive,
Banda Bassotti,
Barclay James Harvest,
Fluxion,
Harry Pussy,
Donald Byrd,
The Cure,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
the Association,
Con Funk Shun,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.