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 Czech Republic and from Shanghai.
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 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Cairo.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the clarinet 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 The Shadows of Knight to the dance kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Crooked Eye. All the underground hits.
All Black Moon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Invisible record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Alison Limerick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Leonard Cohen,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Ohio Players,
The Zeros,
Lalann,
Heaven 17,
Erasure,
Ultimate Spinach,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Junior Murvin,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Howard Jones,
the Slits,
The Pretty Things,
Matthew Bourne,
Swans,
The United States of America,
Delon & Dalcan,
Scion,
The Five Americans,
Tropical Tobacco,
Isaac Hayes,
Kool Moe Dee,
Jesper Dahlback,
L. Decosne,
Hardrive,
Wasted Youth,
The Wake,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Moleskins,
Rapeman,
The Alarm Clocks,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
Roxy Music,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
Chris Corsano,
Ten City,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Knickerbockers,
Al Stewart,
Soulsonic Force,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Peter and Kerry,
Sällskapet,
Yellowson,
The Blackbyrds,
Reagan Youth,
Ultra Naté,
Black Flag,
Pere Ubu,
Make Up,
Tomorrow,
In Retrospect,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Skarface,
Hashim,
Barclay James Harvest,
Cluster, Cluster, Cluster, Cluster.
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.