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 Rwanda and from Manila.
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 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Taipei.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Accra 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 guitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen 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 MDC to the grime kids.
I played it at Trash.
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 Iggy Pop. All the underground hits.
All Vaughan Mason & Crew tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Urselle 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 '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an arpeggiator and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Slits record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Lungfish,
Reagan Youth,
Gregory Isaacs,
Unwound,
Bill Near,
Intrusion,
Be Bop Deluxe,
James White and The Blacks,
Audionom,
Au Pairs,
KRS-One,
John Coltrane,
R.M.O.,
Prince Buster,
Big Daddy Kane,
Ponytail,
Desert Stars,
Ronan,
Toni Rubio,
Nik Kershaw,
The Moleskins,
Throbbing Gristle,
Tom Boy,
The Golliwogs,
Pantaleimon,
FM Einheit,
Eli Mardock,
The Red Krayola,
New Age Steppers,
Sandy B,
Roy Ayers,
F. McDonald,
Ossler,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Babytalk,
Animal Collective,
The Doobie Brothers,
Moebius,
Donald Byrd,
The Star Department,
Can,
Danielle Patucci,
Erykah Badu,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Albert Ayler,
Newcleus,
Peter and Kerry,
Pierre Henry,
Siglo XX,
Circle Jerks,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
the Fania All-Stars,
Kaleidoscope,
Bobby Sherman,
Junior Murvin,
Popol Vuh,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo,
The Invisible,
Urselle, Urselle, Urselle, Urselle.
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.