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 Bhutan and from Toronto.
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 1960 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Columbus and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 guitar 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 Grauzone to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 The United States of America. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Gong record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash 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 synthesizer and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marmalade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes 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 Human League,
Duran Duran,
The J.B.'s,
The Cowsills,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Electric Prunes,
Matthew Bourne,
The Stooges,
Lee Hazlewood,
Joy Division,
Bronski Beat,
Darondo,
Iggy Pop,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Grandmaster Flash,
Das Ding,
Marine Girls,
Make Up,
Arcadia,
the Association,
Todd Rundgren,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
U.S. Maple,
Main Source,
Hoover,
Whodini,
Crooked Eye,
Godley & Creme,
Johnny Clarke,
Adolescents,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Ponytail,
The Blackbyrds,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Jeff Mills,
Mary Jane Girls,
Animal Collective,
The Misunderstood,
Kerri Chandler,
Alison Limerick,
Moebius,
Rufus Thomas,
This Heat,
The Offenders,
Colin Newman,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Bill Wells,
48th St. Collective,
Silicon Teens,
John Holt,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Wings,
The Litter,
Derrick May,
The Gladiators,
The Standells,
The Trojans,
Goldenarms,
Jesper Dahlbäck,
Motorama,
The Associates,
The Residents,
Blancmange,
Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott, Sugar Minott.
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.