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 Kyrgyzstan and from Copenhagen.
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 1960 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manchester and Columbus.
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 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 Quando Quango to the rap kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Frankie Knuckles. All the underground hits.
All The Knickerbockers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco 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 sitar and a mellotron 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 güiro and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sly & The Family Stone,
Soulsonic Force,
Carl Craig,
James Chance & The Contortions,
The Detroit Cobras,
Country Teasers,
Banda Bassotti,
Roxette,
Andrew Hill,
Drexciya,
Magma,
Alphaville,
The Stooges,
Glenn Branca,
Los Fastidios,
Fad Gadget,
Avey Tare,
Vladislav Delay,
Althea and Donna,
Black Flag,
Simply Red,
Young Marble Giants,
Marcia Griffiths,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Archie Shepp,
Derrick Morgan,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Khruangbin,
Cluster,
Delta 5,
Underground Resistance,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sam Rivers,
The J.B.'s,
Matthew Bourne,
James White and The Blacks,
Flipper,
Y Pants,
Robert Hood,
Chrome,
The Litter,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Crooked Eye,
Skriet,
Shoche,
Moss Icon,
Erasure,
Tres Demented,
Niagra,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Cal Tjader,
Crispy Ambulance,
Pantytec,
Saccharine Trust,
MC5,
Infiniti,
China Crisis,
H. Thieme,
The Moody Blues,
New Order,
The Knickerbockers,
10cc, 10cc, 10cc, 10cc.
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.