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 Zimbabwe and from Halifax.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1961 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Bremen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Salvador 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 clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 Foxx to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Eric Dolphy. All the underground hits.
All Peter & Gordon tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Reagan Youth 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 '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Oblivians record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed,
Thee Headcoats,
Reuben Wilson,
Boz Scaggs,
Darondo,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Big Daddy Kane,
Hasil Adkins,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Marine Girls,
Sun Ra,
Ralphi Rosario,
Schoolly D,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Circle Jerks,
Erasure,
Jeff Mills,
Joyce Sims,
Sarah Menescal,
The Selecter,
David Axelrod,
Gang Green,
Nation of Ulysses,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Jimmy McGriff,
Sonic Youth,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Arcadia,
Nick Fraelich,
Dawn Penn,
Lalann,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Cecil Taylor,
Pylon,
Soul Sonic Force,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Niagra,
Ituana,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Warren Ellis,
The Velvet Underground,
Technova,
Suicide,
Bizarre Inc.,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Skriet,
The Saints,
Television,
Andrew Hill,
Marmalade,
Tropical Tobacco,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Ossler,
Funky Four + One,
Vainqueur,
Grauzone,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Symarip,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Jeru the Damaja,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
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.