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 Andorra and from Philadelphia.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 Liliput to the crunk 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 Moebius. All the underground hits.
All Sugar Minott tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Camouflage 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Eden Ahbez,
Section 25,
Heaven 17,
Ossler,
Q65,
Slave,
Symarip,
Robert Görl,
The Toasters,
Sly & The Family Stone,
The Modern Lovers,
Popol Vuh,
The Golliwogs,
Mark Hollis,
Scratch Acid,
a-ha,
Malaria!,
Crispian St. Peters,
Bluetip,
Qualms,
Gang Gang Dance,
ABBA,
Ornette Coleman,
The Cure,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Funkadelic,
Judy Mowatt,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Sugar Minott,
Bill Near,
Leonard Cohen,
Rhythim Is Rhythim,
48th St. Collective,
The Trojans,
John Cale,
The Index,
Monolake,
Johnny Osbourne,
Althea and Donna,
Graham Central Station,
The Buckinghams,
Soft Machine,
The Monochrome Set,
The Move,
The Angels of Light,
Arcadia,
The Martian,
Delon & Dalcan,
Erasure,
Parry Music,
Eddi Front,
R.M.O.,
Cheater Slicks,
Rhythm & Sound,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Neon Judgement,
Donny Hathaway,
OOIOO,
Stiv Bators,
The Dirtbombs,
Cymande,
Joey Negro,
Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light, Clear Light.
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.