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 Guinea and from Lyon.
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 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manila 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 sitar 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 Lungfish to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Ultravox. All the underground hits.
All Gang of Four tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Minnie Riperton 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Brick record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a linndrum.
I hear that you and your band have sold your linndrum and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Cure,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Human League,
Bob Dylan,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Oblivians,
Steve Hackett,
Outsiders,
Franke,
The Searchers,
Pharoah Sanders,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
ABC,
Lee Hazlewood,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Soul II Soul,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
The Electric Prunes,
Sonny Sharrock,
Skaos,
Au Pairs,
Michelle Simonal,
LL Cool J,
Rufus Thomas,
Soft Cell,
Fatback Band,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Infiniti,
Heaven 17,
Lindisfarne,
Los Fastidios,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Subhumans,
Q65,
The Move,
Vainqueur,
Sight & Sound,
Urselle,
Amon Düül,
Fela Kuti,
Roy Ayers,
Toni Rubio,
Motorama,
CMW,
Johnny Clarke,
Erasure,
Sonic Youth,
Albert Ayler,
Ultra Naté,
Stockholm Monsters,
The Leaves,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Sister Nancy,
Swell Maps,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Eric Dolphy,
R.M.O.,
Man Eating Sloth,
Scientists,
Marvin Gaye,
Wasted Youth,
Chris Corsano,
Unwound,
Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters, Groovy Waters.
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.