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 Montenegro and from Taipei.
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 1963 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Sao Paulo.
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 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the theremin 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 Warsaw to the techno 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 Eric B and Rakim. All the underground hits.
All Sun Ra Arkestra tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Harpers Bizarre record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk 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 linndrum and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kerri Chandler record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Soul Sonic Force,
Kurtis Blow,
The Smiths,
John Cale,
Eddi Front,
Hasil Adkins,
Rotary Connection,
Joy Division,
Skarface,
Brass Construction,
Porter Ricks,
Arcadia,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Minor Threat,
The Alarm Clocks,
Glenn Branca,
The Modern Lovers,
Livin' Joy,
The Litter,
The Remains,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Electric Prunes,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Bush Tetras,
Matthew Halsall,
Sun Ra,
Marc Almond,
Ronnie Foster,
The Monks,
Funky Four + One,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
The Moody Blues,
48th St. Collective,
Curtis Mayfield,
Crime,
The Gladiators,
Urselle,
The Cowsills,
Sandy B,
Basic Channel,
Soft Machine,
Niagra,
Unrelated Segments,
kango's stein massive,
Stereo Dub,
D'Angelo,
The Invisible,
Clear Light,
One Last Wish,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Grey Daturas,
Brand Nubian,
Au Pairs,
Sugar Minott,
The Stooges,
Godley & Creme,
The Toasters,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Lower 48,
Ituana,
Hot Snakes,
Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant, Quadrant.
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.