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 Estonia and from Tehran.
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 1968 to 1973.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lille 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 linndrum 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 Youth Brigade to the grime 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 Cybotron. All the underground hits.
All The Sonics tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Marcia Griffiths record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz 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 sitar and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lizzy Mercier Descloux record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a snare.
I hear that you and your band have sold your snare and bought a chamberlin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Nico,
Warsaw,
The Offenders,
The Martian,
Iggy Pop,
The Litter,
Tubeway Army,
The Monochrome Set,
Pagans,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Harry Pussy,
Black Flag,
Davy DMX,
Pulsallama,
Agitation Free,
Ralphi Rosario,
Mission of Burma,
Minor Threat,
Junior Murvin,
Niagra,
Bootsy Collins,
This Heat,
Con Funk Shun,
Lyres,
Harmonia,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Walker Brothers,
Sonny Sharrock,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Circle Jerks,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Fugazi,
The Sonics,
Infiniti,
Quadrant,
Spandau Ballet,
Kayak,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
The Techniques,
MC5,
Aural Exciters,
La Düsseldorf,
Curtis Mayfield,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Quando Quango,
Donald Byrd,
T.S.O.L.,
Terry Callier,
Bad Manners,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Cal Tjader,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Sällskapet,
Big Daddy Kane,
cv313,
Kaleidoscope,
E-Dancer,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Black Bananas,
Slave, Slave, Slave, Slave.
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.