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 Belize and from Winnipeg.
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 1966 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in New York and Toronto.
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 synthesizer 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 Altered Images to the dance kids.
I played it at the 40 Watt.
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 Soul II Soul. All the underground hits.
All Gian Franco Pienzio tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Siglo XX 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Jeff Lynne record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Cameo,
Whodini,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Susan Cadogan,
Maurizio,
Gil Scott Heron,
The Angels of Light,
Echospace,
Judy Mowatt,
Altered Images,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Bad Manners,
Nas,
The Toasters,
Massinfluence,
Dorothy Ashby,
Ultra Naté,
The Modern Lovers,
Rhythm & Sound,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Aaron Thompson,
Average White Band,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Schoolly D,
The J.B.'s,
Technova,
Nils Olav,
Danielle Patucci,
KRS-One,
David Axelrod,
DJ Style,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Hardrive,
Soft Machine,
The Neon Judgement,
The Saints,
Television,
The Barracudas,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Fad Gadget,
The American Breed,
Kerri Chandler,
Tubeway Army,
Spandau Ballet,
Liliput,
Joyce Sims,
The Cramps,
Cheater Slicks,
Lebanon Hanover,
Slave,
Drive Like Jehu,
China Crisis,
Thompson Twins,
A Certain Ratio,
Nico,
the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
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.