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 Guinea-Bissau and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Feelies show in Haledon.
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 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Spokane and Spokane.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 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 Severed Heads to the techno kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Technova. All the underground hits.
All Nas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Red Krayola record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a marimba and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Lebanon Hanover record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Agitation Free,
MC5,
Reuben Wilson,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Vogues,
Magazine,
Arthur Verocai,
Bush Tetras,
Radiopuhelimet,
Byron Stingily,
Yellowson,
Newcleus,
Parry Music,
Intrusion,
The Gories,
The Durutti Column,
Stereo Dub,
The Happenings,
Aloha Tigers,
Section 25,
The Neon Judgement,
Matthew Bourne,
Faust,
The Smoke,
Inner City,
Soulsonic Force,
Ralphi Rosario,
DJ Sneak,
Royal Trux,
Gil Scott Heron,
Wire,
Hoover,
Max Romeo,
Aswad,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
The Red Krayola,
Bobby Byrd,
The Busters,
In Retrospect,
Gang of Four,
Motorama,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Godley & Creme,
L. Decosne,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
This Heat,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Barbara Tucker,
Popol Vuh,
Pole,
Bluetip,
Minnie Riperton,
UT,
JFA,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
The Litter,
Tim Buckley,
Dead Boys,
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan.
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.