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 Benin and from Mexico City.
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 1968 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Winnipeg 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 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 Sister Nancy to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
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 Godley & Creme. All the underground hits.
All Lebanon Hanover tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nation of Ulysses 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 '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a snare and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Surgeon record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Reagan Youth,
Rufus Thomas,
X-101,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Rapeman,
Black Sheep,
The Electric Prunes,
Agent Orange,
Zero Boys,
Eden Ahbez,
Marvin Gaye,
the Swans,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Brand Nubian,
Cybotron,
Thompson Twins,
Robert Wyatt,
Animal Collective,
Lalo Schifrin,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Dorothy Ashby,
Aloha Tigers,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Maurizio,
Hasil Adkins,
The Sound,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Buzzcocks,
Amazonics,
The Toasters,
Subhumans,
Easy Going,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
Warren Ellis,
The Index,
The Slackers,
Soul II Soul,
Harpers Bizarre,
Minny Pops,
Massinfluence,
Flamin' Groovies,
Guru Guru,
Arab on Radar,
Flipper,
Soul Sonic Force,
Eric Dolphy,
Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog,
Sam Rivers,
The Durutti Column,
Crispy Ambulance,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
Marmalade,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Zapp,
The United States of America,
The Vogues,
Susan Cadogan,
Bizarre Inc.,
Kerri Chandler,
Cymande,
Gabor Szabo,
Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now, Camberwell Now.
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.