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 Malta and from Portland.
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 1967 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai 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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the 808 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 The Litter to the grime 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 Severed Heads. All the underground hits.
All Sixth Finger tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Eyeless In Gaza record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance 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 a snare and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pole record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a 808.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Radiopuhelimet,
Rhythm & Sound,
Susan Cadogan,
Television Personalities,
Spoonie Gee,
The Mummies,
Depeche Mode,
The Buckinghams,
Roy Ayers,
Make Up,
A Flock of Seagulls,
Grauzone,
Girls At Our Best!,
Eric Copeland,
Monolake,
Flash Fearless,
Mantronix,
The Seeds,
Bad Manners,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Ronan,
Marshall Jefferson,
The American Breed,
The Last Poets,
the Normal,
Sexual Harrassment,
Black Moon,
Bang On A Can,
Essential Logic,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Can,
Soul Sonic Force,
The Human League,
Eddi Front,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Yellowson,
the Germs,
The Gladiators,
Dual Sessions,
Dorothy Ashby,
David McCallum,
Neil Young,
The Blues Magoos,
A Certain Ratio,
Brass Construction,
Major Organ And The Adding Machine,
Black Bananas,
Surgeon,
The Neon Judgement,
MDC,
Anakelly,
Wire,
John Holt,
Suicide,
Groovy Waters,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Trumans Water,
Jeru the Damaja,
Section 25,
Babytalk,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters, The Flesh Eaters.
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.