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 Kosovo and from Paris.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Accra and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Paris 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 1983 at the first Lewis practice in a loft in Vancouver.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer 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 Eyeless In Gaza to the punk 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 Harpers Bizarre. All the underground hits.
All the Slits tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Idris Muhammad 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 '80s.
I hear you're buying an organ and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Newcleus 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?
Procol Harum,
Eli Mardock,
Section 25,
Jerry's Kids,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
The Beau Brummels,
The Residents,
ABBA,
Donny Hathaway,
Josef K,
Bobby Sherman,
Archie Shepp,
the Germs,
Kerri Chandler,
Excepter,
Bob Dylan,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Kaleidoscope,
Young Marble Giants,
K-Klass,
CMW,
Terrestrial Tones,
Black Flag,
Swans,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Harry Pussy,
Soft Cell,
Ultimate Spinach,
The Saints,
Joe Smooth,
Newcleus,
Tim Buckley,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Mary Jane Girls,
Hoover,
Tropical Tobacco,
Ludus,
Radiohead,
Animal Collective,
The Golliwogs,
Moebius,
Cymande,
Eyeless In Gaza,
Minny Pops,
Thee Headcoats,
Monolake,
Country Teasers,
Girls At Our Best!,
Scion,
the Human League,
Grey Daturas,
Charles Mingus,
AZ,
Lungfish,
Ronan,
Dave Gahan,
Brass Construction,
Sam Rivers,
Robert Wyatt,
Brand Nubian,
Los Fastidios,
Arthur Verocai,
Eric Copeland,
Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic, Funkadelic.
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.