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 Finland and from Winnipeg.
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 1963 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Manila and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Toronto 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 harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 The Raincoats to the rap kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
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 Sound Behaviour. All the underground hits.
All Kurtis Blow tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Cramps record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Drexciya,
Jeff Mills,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Electric Prunes,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Charles Mingus,
Prince Buster,
Sister Nancy,
Massinfluence,
The Blackbyrds,
Quando Quango,
Don Cherry,
Con Funk Shun,
The Sound,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
The American Breed,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Panda Bear,
Mandrill,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Depeche Mode,
48th St. Collective,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Boogie Down Productions,
Carl Craig,
Gang Starr,
Neil Young,
Outsiders,
The United States of America,
Quadrant,
The Residents,
David Axelrod,
Albert Ayler,
Slave,
The Golliwogs,
Lebanon Hanover,
Banda Bassotti,
Brass Construction,
Fluxion,
The Vogues,
Gerry Rafferty,
ABC,
Gichy Dan,
Black Sheep,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Delta 5,
Nick Fraelich,
Donny Hathaway,
David McCallum,
In Retrospect,
Public Image Ltd.,
Procol Harum,
Nas,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
The Fugs,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
The Birthday Party,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
JFA,
The Count Five,
Avey Tare,
The Saints, The Saints, The Saints, The Saints.
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.