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 Gambia and from Tehran.
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 1967 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Philadelphia.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing 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 1980 at the first Cybotron practice in a loft in Detroit.
I was working on the marimba 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 John Lydon to the rock 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 Amon Düül. All the underground hits.
All Gian Franco Pienzio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bang on a Can All-Stars record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sisters of Mercy record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a linndrum.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Soulsonic Force,
Rosa Yemen,
Section 25,
Deakin,
Con Funk Shun,
June Days,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
T. Rex,
Big Daddy Kane,
Gang Starr,
Can,
The Moleskins,
The Durutti Column,
Man Parrish,
Danielle Patucci,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
Gichy Dan,
Black Bananas,
Yellowson,
Tim Buckley,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
One Last Wish,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Pere Ubu,
Radiopuhelimet,
Todd Terry,
Wings,
Amazonics,
Supertramp,
Grey Daturas,
The Busters,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
John Coltrane,
The Sound,
Scion,
Rites of Spring,
The Golliwogs,
Buzzcocks,
Scott Walker,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ralphi Rosario,
the Slits,
Sun City Girls,
the Soft Cell,
The New Christs,
Eve St. Jones,
Skarface,
Deepchord,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Bootsy Collins,
Panda Bear,
Suburban Knight,
Piero Umiliani,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Saccharine Trust,
Barclay James Harvest,
Jimmy McGriff,
Subhumans,
Thee Headcoats,
X-Ray Spex,
Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras, Bush Tetras.
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.