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 Columbus.
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 1962 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Houston.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school New York 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 theremin 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 Con Funk Shun to the crunk kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 John Lydon. All the underground hits.
All Gastr Del Sol tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gary Puckett & The Union Gap record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Eve St. Jones record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Invisible,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Bizarre Inc.,
X-101,
Altered Images,
Brand Nubian,
Iggy Pop,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pole,
Gregory Isaacs,
It's A Beautiful Day,
The Offenders,
The Toasters,
Sexual Harrassment,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Y Pants,
The Selecter,
Jesper Dahlback,
Gang Starr,
Man Eating Sloth,
Marmalade,
Liliput,
Ronnie Foster,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Donald Byrd,
Soulsonic Force,
Lucky Dragons,
The Neon Judgement,
Bill Near,
The Names,
Camouflage,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
June of 44,
The Associates,
Terrestrial Tones,
L. Decosne,
Panda Bear,
Eve St. Jones,
The Dave Clark Five,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Half Japanese,
Lee Hazlewood,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
MDC,
Arcadia,
John Lydon,
Don Cherry,
Underground Resistance,
The Gap Band,
Throbbing Gristle,
the Germs,
Black Pus,
The American Breed,
Colin Newman,
The Searchers,
Yaz,
Silicon Teens,
Lebanon Hanover,
John Cale, John Cale, John Cale, John Cale.
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.