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 Brazil and from Cairo.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Milan and Cairo.
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 1967 at the first Rodriguez practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the synthesizer 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 Whodini to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Electric Prunes. All the underground hits.
All Sparks tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Scrapy 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a guitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ossler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radio Birdman,
Peter and Kerry,
Al Stewart,
Groovy Waters,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Mojo Men,
The Black Dice,
Kevin Saunderson,
This Heat,
The Toasters,
Ludus,
Grauzone,
Nirvana,
Todd Rundgren,
Crooked Eye,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Skatalites,
Depeche Mode,
Mars,
The Dead C,
Warsaw,
The Cramps,
Glenn Branca,
The Neon Judgement,
June Days,
Roy Ayers,
The Smiths,
Radiohead,
Darondo,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Angels of Light,
Monks,
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Moleskins,
Stereo Dub,
Model 500,
Skriet,
Jeff Lynne,
The Star Department,
The Fugs,
Tom Boy,
Colin Newman,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
Sam Rivers,
Interpol,
Das Ding,
Matthew Halsall,
Howard Jones,
Public Image Ltd.,
Byron Stingily,
T.S.O.L.,
Cybotron,
Dead Boys,
Rufus Thomas,
Albert Ayler,
Minutemen,
Zero Boys,
Jacob Miller,
Subhumans,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Quando Quango,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.
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.