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 Australia 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 1960 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Edmonton.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Bobby Byrd to the techno 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 Jacob Miller. All the underground hits.
All Stockholm Monsters tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every 48th St. Collective record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal punk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a güiro and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Marcia Griffiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
X-Ray Spex,
Harpers Bizarre,
Popol Vuh,
Aaron Thompson,
Youth Brigade,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Wasted Youth,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Cal Tjader,
Hashim,
AZ,
Excepter,
The Tremeloes,
Crooked Eye,
Brothers Johnson,
T.S.O.L.,
Duran Duran,
Boz Scaggs,
Letta Mbulu,
Section 25,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Moebius,
Newcleus,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Black Pus,
Stiv Bators,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Black Bananas,
Alton Ellis,
Judy Mowatt,
The Gun Club,
Audionom,
The Leaves,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Grandmaster Flash,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
China Crisis,
Cheater Slicks,
Average White Band,
Soul II Soul,
The Victims,
The Angels of Light,
Spoonie Gee,
Guru Guru,
Slave,
The Busters,
Fugazi,
Roxette,
Fatback Band,
Chrome,
Angry Samoans,
Funky Four + One,
Sight & Sound,
Monolake,
Drive Like Jehu,
Eddi Front,
Electric Light Orchestra,
Lalo Schifrin,
Ajijia Myrayebe,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Livin' Joy,
Josef K,
Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti, Infiniti.
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.