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 Ghana and from Houston.
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 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Portland and Calgary.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran 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 organ 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 The Monochrome Set to the grunge 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 Delta 5. All the underground hits.
All The Move tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Lou Reed & Metallica record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Royal Family And The Poor record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Colin Newman,
David Axelrod,
Goldenarms,
The American Breed,
Mad Mike,
D'Angelo,
Cluster,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Happenings,
Harry Pussy,
Pierre Henry,
Cecil Taylor,
Deadbeat,
The Gap Band,
Nirvana,
Ultravox,
The Zeros,
Gichy Dan,
Slave,
Joe Smooth,
Icehouse,
Sexual Harrassment,
Organ,
Byron Stingily,
JFA,
Au Pairs,
The Remains,
Eli Mardock,
Thee Headcoats,
Lalann,
Marine Girls,
New York Dolls,
Terry Callier,
kango's stein massive,
Alphaville,
Erasure,
Godley & Creme,
Accadde A,
Boz Scaggs,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Johnny Clarke,
Moby Grape,
Sex Pistols,
Grauzone,
FM Einheit,
Japan,
Guru Guru,
Bronski Beat,
Bill Near,
Fat Boys,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Monolake,
R.M.O.,
The Fuzztones,
Nation of Ulysses,
Wings,
Royal Trux,
Circle Jerks,
Pharoah Sanders,
Judy Mowatt,
The Real Kids,
Kayak,
The Busters, The Busters, The Busters, The Busters.
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.