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 Chad and from Johannesburg.
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 1962 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Toronto.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Columbus 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 808 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 Girls At Our Best! to the rock kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
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 Make Up. All the underground hits.
All the Soft Cell tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nils Olav record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Joy Division record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ossler,
Mo-Dettes,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
The Birthday Party,
Connie Case,
Drexciya,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Fear,
The Pretty Things,
AZ,
Bobbi Humphrey,
OOIOO,
Flash Fearless,
Arab on Radar,
Eric Dolphy,
Pagans,
Man Parrish,
Kayak,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Gerry Rafferty,
Bobby Hutcherson,
A Certain Ratio,
The Monochrome Set,
Ken Boothe,
Loose Ends,
The Misunderstood,
Main Source,
Sarah Menescal,
Altered Images,
MC5,
Outsiders,
Mary Jane Girls,
Ralphi Rosario,
Avey Tare,
Suicide,
Scrapy,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
The Grass Roots,
Guru Guru,
The Fugs,
the Slits,
Trumans Water,
The Barracudas,
Metal Thangz,
Gastr Del Sol,
Boredoms,
The Blackbyrds,
Whodini,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Joyce Sims,
Clear Light,
Section 25,
Agitation Free,
Surgeon,
Amon Düül,
Marine Girls,
Lalann,
X-102,
Gong,
Sound Behaviour,
Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones, Howard Jones.
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.