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 Bhutan and from Toronto.
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 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan 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 theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when David Bowie 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 Pylon 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 Kool Moe Dee. All the underground hits.
All Dennis Brown tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Wake record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and an organ and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Happenings record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ossler,
Derrick Morgan,
Sun Ra,
Crispy Ambulance,
Darondo,
David Axelrod,
Grey Daturas,
Television,
Traffic Nightmare,
Nico,
Pierre Henry,
Ralphi Rosario,
E-Dancer,
Lyres,
Saccharine Trust,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Mandrill,
Nas,
Barrington Levy,
Andrew Ashong & Theo Parrish,
Visage,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Mo-Dettes,
Scientists,
Prince Buster,
Stockholm Monsters,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Ultimate Spinach,
Lalo Schifrin,
Carl Craig,
Kerri Chandler,
Depeche Mode,
Japan,
the Slits,
Sonic Youth,
Eric Dolphy,
Janne Schatter,
DNA,
Monolake,
Frankie Knuckles,
T.S.O.L.,
Smog,
Leonard Cohen,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Gerry Rafferty,
JFA,
Siglo XX,
Pussy Galore,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
Niagra,
The Golliwogs,
Nick Fraelich,
Fort Wilson Riot,
Faraquet,
Connie Case,
Camouflage,
Black Flag,
Duran Duran,
Lungfish,
Quantec,
Tears for Fears,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach, Negative Approach.
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.