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 Ireland and from Lille.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 spring reverb 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 Whodini to the grime 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 Aural Exciters. All the underground hits.
All New Age Steppers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Soul II Soul 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade 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?
Blake Baxter,
June Days,
Sam Rivers,
X-Ray Spex,
Heaven 17,
Quando Quango,
Von Mondo,
Nik Kershaw,
Massinfluence,
Joensuu 1685,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Radio Birdman,
Y Pants,
The Angels of Light,
KRS-One,
The Sound,
Bauhaus,
The Cowsills,
Glambeats Corp.,
Archie Shepp,
B.T. Express,
Johnny Clarke,
The Fall,
Swell Maps,
Crooked Eye,
The Black Dice,
the Slits,
Agent Orange,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Glenn Branca,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Bill Near,
Pharoah Sanders,
Bad Manners,
Eli Mardock,
Bush Tetras,
Joey Negro,
Freddie Wadling,
Gang Gang Dance,
Negative Approach,
New Order,
Echospace,
The Associates,
Cameo,
Eddi Front,
Visage,
Minor Threat,
Rhythm & Sound,
Ralphi Rosario,
Idris Muhammad,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Nas,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
the Germs,
The Slackers,
Roger Hodgson,
Malaria!,
Underground Resistance,
Kayak,
Dawn Penn,
The Move,
Prince Buster,
Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs, Boz Scaggs.
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.