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 Saudi Arabia and from New York.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bologna and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Cairo 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 arpeggiator 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 Parry Music to the jazz 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 Matthew Bourne. All the underground hits.
All The Monochrome Set tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Angry Samoans record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Nas record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a sitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
the Fania All-Stars,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
The Associates,
Letta Mbulu,
Iggy Pop,
Lindisfarne,
Y Pants,
Chrome,
Erasure,
Eurythmics,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Steve Hackett,
Sister Nancy,
Groovy Waters,
The Angels of Light,
B.T. Express,
Thompson Twins,
New York Dolls,
Radiopuhelimet,
Parry Music,
Pet Shop Boys,
Crispian St. Peters,
The Saints,
The Golliwogs,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
The Human League,
Black Pus,
Ituana,
Flipper,
Ludus,
Funky Four + One,
Tim Buckley,
Newcleus,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Idris Muhammad,
Shuggie Otis,
Malaria!,
Charles Mingus,
Mantronix,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Half Japanese,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Pierre Henry,
Popol Vuh,
Soft Cell,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Schoolly D,
Hardrive,
Glenn Branca,
Intrusion,
The Techniques,
Joe Smooth,
Bronski Beat,
Smog,
Roxy Music,
The Evens,
Gastr Del Sol,
The Divine Comedy,
Rhythm & Sound,
Mark Hollis,
The Selecter,
The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five, The Dave Clark Five.
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.