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 Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973.
I was there at the first Television show in New York.
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 1961 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Madrid.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei 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 Lou Reed 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 Gap Band to the funk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
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 Davy DMX. All the underground hits.
All Country Joe & The Fish tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Monolake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
48th St. Collective,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lindisfarne,
Prince Buster,
Aaron Thompson,
Subhumans,
Warren Ellis,
The Red Krayola,
Stockholm Monsters,
Joe Finger,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Henry Cow,
Adolescents,
Amon Düül II,
The Pretty Things,
Circle Jerks,
Marshall Jefferson,
Buzzcocks,
Main Source,
EPMD,
The Blues Magoos,
The Leaves,
Ludus,
John Cale,
Harpers Bizarre,
Minutemen,
the Sonics,
Heavy D & The Boyz,
Andrew Hill,
Junior Murvin,
The Golliwogs,
Hoover,
PIL,
One Last Wish,
L. Decosne,
Royal Trux,
Steve Hackett,
Gang of Four,
Half Japanese,
H. Thieme,
MC5,
Silicon Teens,
Siglo XX,
The Vogues,
Graham Central Station,
Maleditus Sound,
The Cowsills,
Sugar Minott,
The Velvet Underground,
Rapeman,
Ten City,
Lucky Dragons,
Surgeon,
Massinfluence,
Fear,
Lightning Bolt,
Eric Dolphy,
Terrestrial Tones,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
Don Cherry,
Moby Grape,
the Normal,
Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill, Mandrill.
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.