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 Bolivia and from Accra.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Copenhagen.
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 spring reverb 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 Tubeway Army to the crunk 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 Lakeside. All the underground hits.
All Scientists tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Technova 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 '80s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Sonics record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a snare.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Urselle,
Franke,
Ken Boothe,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
David Bowie,
The Standells,
The Cowsills,
Gastr Del Sol,
Fear,
Joyce Sims,
The Shadows of Knight,
The Cure,
Gabor Szabo,
Sunsets and Hearts,
X-102,
Bronski Beat,
Eve St. Jones,
The Associates,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Idris Muhammad,
Soul Sonic Force,
Bobbi Humphrey,
Metal Thangz,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Ralphi Rosario,
The Fortunes,
Quando Quango,
Grandmaster Flash,
John Lydon,
The Wake,
Derrick May,
Public Enemy,
Man Eating Sloth,
Nils Olav,
Rites of Spring,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Robert Görl,
Darondo,
Organ,
Second Layer,
Underground Resistance,
The Slackers,
Warsaw,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
The Saints,
David Axelrod,
Sun City Girls,
The Human League,
The Red Krayola,
the Human League,
Marmalade,
The Golliwogs,
Wally Richardson,
Agent Orange,
Bootsy Collins,
Joe Smooth,
LL Cool J,
Nirvana,
John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane, John Coltrane.
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.