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 Spain and from Woodstock.
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 1964 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Milan.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston 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 Holger Czukay 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 Boz Scaggs to the electroclash 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 Von Mondo. All the underground hits.
All Bang on a Can All-Stars tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eli Mardock record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal electroclash hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a chamberlin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Grass Roots record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Kool Moe Dee,
The New Christs,
Delta 5,
Yellowson,
Colin Newman,
Agent Orange,
Radio Birdman,
T.S.O.L.,
Faust,
The Evens,
Eli Mardock,
Avey Tare,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
The Young Rascals,
Moby Grape,
Deadbeat,
The Doobie Brothers,
Reagan Youth,
Ultra Naté,
Marcia Griffiths,
The Pop Group,
F. McDonald,
Byron Stingily,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Harmonia,
X-101,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Crime,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Hot Snakes,
The Wake,
Negative Approach,
Niagra,
the Soft Cell,
Aloha Tigers,
Ice-T,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Andrew Hill,
Terrestrial Tones,
The Fortunes,
8 Eyed Spy,
Kas Product,
Roxy Music,
The Kinks,
Kaleidoscope,
Unwound,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Tommy Roe,
Make Up,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Q and Not U,
The Raincoats,
a-ha,
The Happenings,
Mark Hollis,
Steve Hackett,
Grauzone,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Leonard Cohen,
Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi, Fugazi.
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.