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 Libya and from Seoul.
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 1965 to 1970.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Houston and Copenhagen.
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 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the mellotron 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 Nik Kershaw to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
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 Cameo. All the underground hits.
All Byron Stingily tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Offenders record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap 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 a harpsichord and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Quantec record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Fall,
Angry Samoans,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Jeru the Damaja,
Bob Dylan,
Black Sheep,
B.T. Express,
Can,
The Music Machine,
Cabaret Voltaire,
The Searchers,
ABC,
Grandmaster Flash,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Marcia Griffiths,
Suburban Knight,
Sam Rivers,
Alphaville,
Theoretical Girls,
Danielle Patucci,
Pussy Galore,
Nirvana,
The Beau Brummels,
Ice-T,
Andrew Hill,
The Remains,
Organ,
Mo-Dettes,
Pantytec,
Audionom,
Dennis Brown,
L. Decosne,
Technova,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Eli Mardock,
The Doobie Brothers,
Stetsasonic,
Bizarre Inc.,
Lafayette Afro Rock Band,
DJ Sneak,
Yaz,
Derrick May,
Country Teasers,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Wally Richardson,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
Curtis Mayfield,
Frankie Knuckles,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Reuben Wilson,
Magma,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Second Layer,
Arcadia,
Susan Cadogan,
Ultravox,
Japan,
The Litter,
Gong,
Q and Not U,
Byron Stingily,
Hardrive,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.