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 Colombia and from Milan.
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 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia 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 snare 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 Velvet Underground to the techno kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All the underground hits.
All Zero Boys tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every CMW record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Cymande record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Franke,
Sound Behaviour,
Bill Near,
Frankie Knuckles,
June Days,
The Detroit Cobras,
48th St. Collective,
Chris Corsano,
Model 500,
Electric Prunes,
Fat Boys,
Rosa Yemen,
Anthony Braxton,
Bobby Byrd,
Groovy Waters,
Camberwell Now,
10cc,
Rhythm & Sound,
Soulsonic Force,
Los Fastidios,
X-Ray Spex,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Faust,
Nick Fraelich,
Davy DMX,
The Zeros,
Severed Heads,
Whodini,
The Doors,
the Slits,
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,
Dual Sessions,
Piero Umiliani,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Rakim,
Pierre Henry,
The Count Five,
Stockholm Monsters,
Freddie Wadling,
Unwound,
Bad Manners,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Boredoms,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Wire,
Ohio Players,
Eric Dolphy,
Can,
the Bar-Kays,
The Red Krayola,
The Fall,
Gerry Rafferty,
Ultimate Spinach,
Lightning Bolt,
Jandek,
Technova,
CMW,
The Doobie Brothers,
In Retrospect,
The Victims, The Victims, The Victims, The Victims.
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.