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 Albania and from Delhi.
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 1969 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Bologna.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 guitar 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 Dave Clark Five to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 Duran Duran. All the underground hits.
All Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Juan Atkins record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a UT record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Delta 5,
T.S.O.L.,
Fluxion,
Glenn Branca,
Arab on Radar,
Severed Heads,
Bronski Beat,
Alice Coltrane,
Terry Callier,
UT,
Marshall Jefferson,
Anthony Braxton,
Gichy Dan,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Eli Mardock,
Lindisfarne,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Robert Wyatt,
The Litter,
Monks,
Flamin' Groovies,
Charles Mingus,
Scion,
The Evens,
Porter Ricks,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Marvin Gaye,
Wings,
Lungfish,
Clear Light,
The Smiths,
Camron Feat. Jay Z And Juelz,
The Slits,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Fatback Band,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Leonard Cohen,
The Residents,
Eve St. Jones,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Jacques Brel,
Moss Icon,
Mandrill,
The Pretty Things,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Throbbing Gristle,
Judy Mowatt,
Public Enemy,
The Dead C,
The Flesh Eaters,
Yellowson,
Gang of Four,
JFA,
Arthur Verocai,
The Doors,
Derrick Morgan,
Eddi Front,
The Monks,
Zero Boys,
Fear,
Supertramp,
Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord, Deepchord.
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.