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 Papua New Guinea and from Paris.
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 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Paris and Cairo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen 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 Max Romeo to the grime kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Au Pairs. All the underground hits.
All Minutemen tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every One Last Wish 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 '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Underground Resistance,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Roxy Music,
Kenny Larkin,
Nils Olav,
John Coltrane,
Outsiders,
Neu!,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Laurel Aitken,
Magma,
The Dave Clark Five,
Cymande,
Young Marble Giants,
Nik Kershaw,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Marmalade,
Magazine,
Bronski Beat,
Eve St. Jones,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
the Slits,
The Fugs,
The Motions,
Eddi Front,
Rosa Yemen,
The Kinks,
Ponytail,
Eyeless In Gaza,
8 Eyed Spy,
Sugar Minott,
The Martian,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Ralphi Rosario,
Second Layer,
Scrapy,
The Doors,
JFA,
Sun Ra,
Rhythm & Sound,
Wighnomy Brothers & Robag Wruhme,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Arab on Radar,
The Detroit Cobras,
Barclay James Harvest,
Flash Fearless,
Swell Maps,
Mr. Review,
the Bar-Kays,
John Foxx,
Terry Callier,
Lindisfarne,
Joensuu 1685,
Throbbing Gristle,
Amon Düül,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
The Royal Family And The Poor,
Lucky Dragons,
Average White Band,
Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama, Pulsallama.
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.