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 Korea North and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
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 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Hong Kong 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 clarinet 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 Marc Almond to the dance kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
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 Graham Central Station. All the underground hits.
All Gang Green tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Crispy Ambulance record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Model 500,
Jandek,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Pagans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
UT,
The Sisters of Mercy,
DJ Style,
Max Romeo,
The Last Poets,
James Chance & The Contortions,
the Soft Cell,
Lindisfarne,
The Neon Judgement,
Juan Atkins,
Circle Jerks,
Terror Squad Feat. Camron,
L. Decosne,
Tommy Roe,
Vainqueur,
China Crisis,
Sparks,
Amon Düül,
Kayak,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Bobby Sherman,
Kas Product,
The Leaves,
Prince Buster,
Jimmy McGriff,
The Seeds,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Flipper,
Visage,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Soft Cell,
Angry Samoans,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Johnny Osbourne,
Youth Brigade,
Cluster,
Matthew Bourne,
The Trojans,
Shoche,
Neu!,
the Association,
48th St. Collective,
Sällskapet,
A Flock of Seagulls,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Colin Newman,
8 Eyed Spy,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Khruangbin,
the Human League,
Scott Walker,
Silicon Teens,
Television Personalities,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Cecil Taylor,
Susan Cadogan,
Intrusion,
Jawbox, Jawbox, Jawbox, Jawbox.
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.