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 Ukraine and from Manila.
But I was there.
I was there in 1980.
I was there at the first Cybotron show in Detroit.
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 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Bremen and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Spokane 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 sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine 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 Derrick Morgan to the punk kids.
I played it at Cafe Wha.
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 Rites of Spring. All the underground hits.
All Grandmaster Flash tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Angels of Light record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock 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 an organ and an oboe and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pussy Galore record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
John Cale,
The Evens,
Eden Ahbez,
Brick,
Charles Mingus,
The Martian,
June of 44,
The Mummies,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Porter Ricks,
R.M.O.,
The Young Rascals,
Bill Near,
Howard Jones,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Morten Harket,
Lyres,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Fuzztones,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Blackbyrds,
Johnny Clarke,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
The Divine Comedy,
Urselle,
The Five Americans,
New Order,
The Victims,
Throbbing Gristle,
Nation of Ulysses,
The Invisible,
The Motions,
Peter & Gordon,
Quantec,
Crime,
Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
One Last Wish,
Amazonics,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Essential Logic,
Lungfish,
The Sonics,
Echo & the Bunnymen,
The Slackers,
Reuben Wilson,
A Certain Ratio,
Outsiders,
Country Teasers,
The Buckinghams,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Alice Coltrane,
Von Mondo,
Pere Ubu,
Bobby Byrd,
Funkadelic,
Bobbi Humphrey,
The Real Kids,
Soul Sonic Force,
Lower 48,
Gichy Dan,
Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts, Sunsets and Hearts.
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.