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 Pakistan and from Accra.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Delhi and Johannesburg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Johannesburg 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 Donald Fagen 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 Ossler to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
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 UT. All the underground hits.
All The Stooges tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Y Pants record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 The Toasters record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Metal Thangz,
Brand Nubian,
Iggy Pop,
Motorama,
Joey Negro,
The J.B.'s,
Howard Jones,
Toni Rubio,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
The Associates,
The Flesh Eaters,
Scientists,
Nik Kershaw,
The Grass Roots,
D'Angelo,
Pet Shop Boys,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Marshall Jefferson,
Jimmy McGriff,
Blake Baxter,
The Residents,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Nirvana,
Black Moon,
The United States of America,
Skarface,
Charles Mingus,
Essential Logic,
Zero Boys,
Todd Rundgren,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Skaos,
Organ,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Tubeway Army,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Anakelly,
Ossler,
Sun Ra,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Oblivians,
Quando Quango,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Dual Sessions,
One Last Wish,
The Barracudas,
Wings,
Max Romeo,
Outsiders,
Throbbing Gristle,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Thompson Twins,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Nick Fraelich,
Yellowson,
Barrington Levy,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
The Leaves,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Erasure,
Funky Four + One,
Susan Cadogan,
Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry, Peter and Kerry.
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.